


Across Memories

by midas_touch_of_angst



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Amethyst and Connie sort of form a Parent-Child relationship, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crystal Gems, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gem Locations, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I'm not sure how to tag this??, Missing Persons, PTSD Amethyst, PTSD Lapis Lazuli, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Travelling Around the Planet, Warrior Connie, Will remain SFW, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-08-15 08:59:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8050177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midas_touch_of_angst/pseuds/midas_touch_of_angst
Summary: Connie goes to the Temple one day to find that all the Gems are gone without a trace. When Amethyst comes back, confused and in a panic, she and Connie make it their mission to find the rest of the Gems. But they soon discover that some of the Gems might not want to be found...Playlist: http://8tracks.com/badwolfcipher/acro-my-y





	1. Empty

Chapter One

 

“Hello?”

Silence.

Connie looked around the Beach House, her shoulders slumping as she received no reply. She walked in, placing Rose’s sword on the ground. Nobody was home- that was strange. The only time Pearl had missed a lesson, she’d still assigned Amethyst to her and Steven for the day. Maybe they were on a mission? But, no, Steven would’ve called ahead to tell her. Unless they were running late?

Connie walked to the couch, sitting and waiting for the gems to arrive. She pulled out her phone to send Steven a quick text, but he didn’t respond. Steven always replied- really quickly, too. She quickly dialed a number, and stared at the warp pad until the phone was picked up. 

“Hey, Connie!” Greg said. “How’s it goin?”

“Um, good.” Connie nodded. “Is Steven with you?”

“No…” Greg paused, probably checking the time before saying, “Shouldn’t he be with you? Aren’t you supposed to be doing your swordfighting thing?”

“Yeah, but nobody’s here.” Connie magain looked to the warp. “Usually someone would be here to meet me so we could go to the sky arena but the house is empty.”

Greg was silent for a while, before saying, “I’m going to try his phone. You sit tight for a second.”

“Roger that.” Connie said as Greg hung up, and turned her head towards the door. Maybe Steven was on the beach? But then one of them would have seen the other when Connie walked up. Where on Earth  _ was  _ he?

Greg called back, and Connie answered quickly. “Did he answer?”

“No. This is bad, he usually has his phone with him. I’m going to drive out to the barn and see if he’s there, you go ahead and go home. No use sitting around an empty house.”

“But what if they come while I’m gone?”

“Then you can talk to Pearl about doing a makeup lesson or something. I’m sure they’ll understand.”

Connie sighed. “Okay, thanks.”

She hung up, and stood to go, but after hesitating a moment, walked over to the warp pad. She spread out her arms, thinking of the Sky Arena. 

Nothing. 

She should have figured. She had just hoped that maybe… No, nothing would have happened. Logic said that a human couldn’t control a Gem Warp. 

Connie walked back to her sword and picked it up, figuring she should probably take it back with her. As she turned to go, she glanced over her shoulder for one last look at the warp. 

It remained empty. 

 

The Warp wasn’t the only thing that stayed empty. The Beach House and the Temple were empty, too, for the next week. The Barn was empty, too, save for a few bugs and fish. Connie ran to the Beach after school every day, waiting by the Warp, growing more and more worried every day, more and more panicked that her best friend was missing. Greg had called the Police, but they didn’t seem to be doing much- just put out a Lost Notice for Steven, as they didn’t know where he had warped to. The Gems were all missing, too, leaving behind everything. It didn’t make sense- they wouldn’t just disappear without a word, without telling Greg or Connie where they were going. Even Lion had vanished, though that wasn’t unusual in of itself. 

Connie tried calling and texting Steven every day, but he never replied. Half the time the texts didn’t send. Wherever he was, his Wifi connection _sucked_. 

A week after they’d gone, Connie waited in the Beach House all day, her sword on the ground beneath her as she sat on the couch, reading a book and waiting. This was the second lesson she’d missed. She tried to do her best to keep the house- she’d dusted a little, cleaned the rotting food out of the fridge, even left little notes for Steven around the house, in case he was just hiding from her. But he’d agreed not to do that again. Had she done something wrong? Was this her fault?

Connie slowly walked home as it started getting dark, dragging the huge pink sword behind her. She greeted her parents, asking them if Mr. Universe had called about anything. The answer was, of course, no. He would have called her first anyway. She sighed and walked up to her room, leaving her sword on the ground and flopping on her bed, groaning. She wanted to scream or cry, but she wasn’t going to. Steven wasn’t gone, she would  _ know.  _ Unless…

_ What if he and the other gems had been shattered? _

Connie shook her head. No, they  _ couldn’t _ have been. They were strong, and powerful. Nothing would have been able to do that, nothing would have been able to shatter them. 

Well, nothing that would have flown off the human radar. 

She wondered if Steven knew about the commotions the Gems caused all the time. How the Gem Monsters would sometimes rampage a city, only to be taken down by the Gems when nobody was looking, the occasional blurry photo as the only proof of their existence. The news coverage of the Giant Eye and Hand falling from the sky, the exploding communicator in the sky, the near destruction of a protected landmark, which Steven described as a Beta Kindergarten, that one time the ocean disappeared and then miraculously came back, the major earthquakes from when the Cluster tried to emerge. Connie didn’t know how the Gems managed to avoid it all; she suspected a Government Cover-Up, but she wasn’t going to imitate Ronaldo and go around shouting it. Steven didn’t seem to be concerned. Connie assumed he- and probably the Gems themselves- were unaware. His TV lacked a lot of news channels and he didn’t spend that much time on the internet. 

She wondered if maybe the Government had kidnapped the Gems. That was a possibility. So what should she do? Storm into Washington and demand to see the hidden aliens? That wasn’t a plan. That was plain stupid. 

She thought about the possibilities until she fell asleep, still in her sword fighting uniform, still worried over her missing friends. 

She woke up when she heard something crash. 

She sat up in bed, blinking away the dreariness in her eyes. Shadows reflected on the ceiling, barely visible in the darkness. Connie could hear only her own breath, which was slowly quickening as she realized that something had crashed outside. She rolled over and pulled the curtains away from her window, peering out. It was hard to tell what was out there, but it had a vaguely humanoid form- and seemed to be  _ purple.  _

Well, there was only one person she knew that was purple, but just to be safe, Connie grabbed her sword and holstered it over her back, carefully leaving her room and tip-toeing down the stairs, sliding on some shoes as she reached the bottom. She quietly unlocked the door, flinching when it made a noise. She pulled the door open, and slid through before closing it again. She wondered if she should leave a note, but if this was what she thought this was, she wouldn’t be too long, right?

She turned to where she saw the figure, only seeing a lamppost that had fallen, blinking ominously. That must have been what the crash was. She ran across the street, sliding over to the sidewalk and seeing bushes behind the fallen post. She crawled through, ignoring the sticks and leaves brushing against her face and back. Every now and again she’d put a hand on her sword, making sure it was still there. She reached the end of the bushes, bursting through. In front of her was nothing. Just another street. 

Connie let out a small yell, kicking at the grass underfoot. Her frustration was short-lived, though, as she heard a rustling behind her. She whipped around, staring as she saw something disappear into the bushes to her right. She ran, again pushing through, passing again to her first street, and looked up to see the purple figure running. She was running ahead, towards the forest at the end of the street. Connie hesitated for a second, before running after her. Because there was no doubt now that she’d seen her- this was Amethyst. 

At first, Connie feared she’d never catch up, but Amethyst kept tripping over her own feet, something that started to confuse Connie. Amethyst was usually much lighter on her feet, way more agile, and if she was trying to outrun something, wouldn’t she just shapeshift? Why wasn’t she speeding away right now, as nothing but a ball of light? 

Amethyst entered the woods, starting to run into branches and logs. Connie ducked and jumped, determined to catch up to the gem. She called out the gem’s name, causing her to whip around in confusion and horror, giving Connie enough time to jump on her and pin her to the ground. 

Amethyst struggled, trying to kick her off, as Connie started to yell. “Amethyst, what’s going on? Where is everyone? Where have you  _ been _ ?”

Amethyst then stopped moving and started to tear up, which only served to add to Connie’s rising panic. “Amethyst,  _ where is Steven _ ?”

Amethyst looked up at her. “C-Connie?”

“Yes! It’s me!  _ Where is everyone _ ?”

Amethyst’s tears flowed more freely now, as she looked up with a hopelessness and sorrow Connie never thought she’d see in Amethyst’s eyes. “That’s just it, I don’t  _ know _ ! They’re all  _ gone _ !”


	2. Setting Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not exactly sure if this fic will have a set schedule like "Gold" or will just update randomly like "Landslide" did. Probably the latter, since the reason I scheduled "Gold" is that it doesn't really have a set story arc, just more slice-of-life fluff, while both "Landslide" and "Across Memories" are more plot-driven fics and so the wait between chapters should probably be shorter. I'll think about it. Thanks for leaving such nice comments! :)

Chapter Two

 

Connie slowly stood, shaking, as she helped Amethyst to her feet. Amethyst still sobbed, holding herself and biting her lip. “Gone? How do you not know where they are? What  _ happened _ ?”

Amethyst shook her head. “I don’t know! I don’t remember anything, Connie. G-Garnet said we had a mission, and we had to bring Lapis and Peridot because… I don’t  _ remember _ , I just remember  _ running.  _ I was running from  _ something _ , and I was alone, and there was a bright light, and… and everyone is  _ gone _ and I couldn’t find a warp and I thought… I thought maybe they were  _ here _ …”

“No!” Connie yelled, shaking her head. “You’ve all been gone for over a week, Amethyst! Steven’s not answering his phone, Mr. Universe says the barn is empty…”

“ _ Steven _ !” Amethyst’s eyes widened in horror and realization. “We need to find him! Steven’s in trouble!”

“What? What kind of trouble?” Connie asked. 

Amethyst suddenly froze, before dropping again to the ground, yelling in frustration. “I don’t  _ know _ !”

“So you know he’s in trouble, but you don’t remember from what?” Connie asked, looking down at the shaking gem. 

“I… I  _ don’t know! Why don’t I know _ ?” Amethyst asked, crying again. “I just remember being  _ scared _ , I was  _ so scared, Connie _ ! And now I can’t protect Steven! What kind of a gem  _ am _ I?”

Connie froze, having never seen Amethyst this… this  _ vulnerable _ . Even when she’d been fighting Jasper, Amethyst hadn’t broken down. But now she was crying, shaking,  _ weak.  _ Connie slowly sat in front of her, before asking, “Do you remember anything?”

Amethyst thought for a second. “I… I remember the mission starting. S-Steven was teaching Peridot some kind of stupid song, and Pearl and Lapis were arguing, and Garnet told them to shut up. And I remember…” she paused, trying to steel herself- it seemed like a painful memory. “I remember  _ running _ . I- I think Garnet threw me. She saw something coming, and told me to run, and I remember going… I wanted to go back, wanted to help… why  _ didn’t  _ I? Maybe I could’ve… could’ve done something. But I was scared, and I ran, but I wasn’t fast enough, and there was a bright light, and I don’t remember  _ what  _ it was or  _ what  _ Garnet saw or even where we were… I’m so  _ useless _ !”

“You’re not useless.” Connie assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder as Amethyst curled into a ball, burying her head in her knees. “You got out of there, and now I can help.” she swallowed her other questions burning inside of her, about what was happening to Steven or the other gems, whether they had been poofed or bubbled or shattered. She didn’t want to scare or upset Amethyst any more. “Were you trying to get back to the Temple?”

Amethyst nodded, turning her head to stare down at the ground. “I don’t know why. I just thought, maybe other gems would be there? I needed to find more Gems, but I couldn’t find the warp so I had to go on foot. I haven’t been able to concentrate enough to shapeshift or attack or even summon my weapon.” she paused, before whispering, “I bet Pearl would’ve been more help than me.”

“Don’t think like that!” Connie said. “You did what you could.” she sighed, before saying, “And now we’ll go find the Gems.”

Amethyst looked up. “Y-you want to help?”

Connie nodded. 

Amethyst wiped her eyes with her arm, shaking her head. “I can’t ask you to do that. You’re a human, you could get hurt…”

“You guys are my friends. I can fight, Amethyst, and you can’t do this by yourself.” Connie said. “I still have my backpack from when Pearl took me and Steven Gem Hunting, I just need to fill it with more food and I’ll be all set.”

Amethyst shook her head. “No. No, you’re just a kid. If something happened-”

“Nothing will happen!” Connie was starting to get frustrated. The Gems were her friends, too! Did Amethyst just expect her to go back home like nothing happened? “I can do this, Amethyst!”

“But-”

“Just let me  _ do  _ this for-”

Connie froze. She shouldn’t have said that, she shouldn’t have  _ thought  _ it. That was something she didn’t want to have to say again, not after she’d seen what it had done to her and Pearl. She shook her head, looking back down at Amethyst, who was stunned. Connie sighed, and continued, “Please, Amethyst. I can’t just do  _ nothing _ .”

Amethyst thought for a second, then nodded. “Okay. Okay, but if anything happens to you, I’m warping you home  _ immediately _ .”

“Understood.” Connie nodded. 

Amethyst sighed. “Let’s go get your stuff.”

Connie led her out of the woods and back to her house, keeping a firm hold on her hand. She doubted that Amethyst would run off again, but she could feel her shaking, could tell her doubts were still prominently on her mind. As they approached her house, Connie whispered, “I’m gonna have to go in the front door. It’ll make some noise, though, and I don’t wanna have to explain to my parents what I was doing outside.”

“I can try and shapeshift so you can climb in through your window.” Amethyst muttered back, noticing that the window was already opened a crack. 

“Are you sure you can do it?” Connie asked, deciding not to ask if she was planning to run the second Connie was out of sight. 

“I… I don’t know, but I can try.” Amethyst said. “Grab on.”

Connie pulled her arms around Amethyst, in what was more like a hug than a hold. Amethyst paused before hugging her back. They stayed there for a while, as Amethyst struggled to shapeshift herself and Connie whispered, “We’ll find them, Amethyst.”

Eventually, Connie felt her feet lift off the ground, as Amethyst’s legs stretched, getting Connie to the window. Connie slowly let go and climbed into her room. She turned back, upset to see that Amethyst looked a lot more stressed and tired than she normally did while shapeshifting. “Give me ten minutes, then come back up,” she murmured, and Amethyst nodded, shrinking back to her normal size. 

Once she was gone, Connie slid to her floor and hugged her knees, staring ahead at the wall. She  _ wasn’t  _ going to cry, not right now. Amethyst needed her, so she was going to be okay. She needed to be there, needed to help save the Gems. She was going to be the hero, she was going to be strong. She  _ wasn’t  _ going to cry, she  _ wasn’t going to cry… _

She let out a tiny wail, barely audible, as her eyes grew wet, and she buried her head in her knees. Amethyst was right, she was only thirteen, she couldn’t travel around trying to find a bunch of Gems. They were in trouble, they were all in trouble,  _ Steven  _ was in trouble… 

No, no! She had to stop worrying. She was going to do this. She’d been Pearl’s student for so long, she and Steven had defeated a Quartz Warrior and her Corrupted Monster, she was definitely able to do this. She was going to save Steven. She  _ had  _ to save Steven. 

She slowly got to her feet, rubbing her eyes and walking forward, digging her Gem Hunting Backpack out of a pile on her floor. She added a book or two to its contents, just in case, and slowly crept again down the stairs. She felt bad about leaving in the middle of the night to go do something incredibly dangerous, as well as stealing food, but she told herself that it was for the Gems. She would  _ definitely  _ be grounded when she got back, but it would be worth it if she could protect her friends. 

She grabbed some food that didn’t need refrigerated from the pantry, as well as some snack bags for Amethyst. She didn’t have a water purifier, so she added a couple of water bottles to her bag. Once she’d finished backing the bag, she grabbed a pad of paper from the table and scratched out a quick explanatory note, leaving it in the Kitchen. Her parents would find it in the morning. 

She snuck back up the stairs, to her room. As she waited for Amethyst, she slid a few hairbands onto her wrist, and threw an extra change of clothes into her backpack, which was starting to get very full. She considered bringing her phone, but no, it’d be easy to track, and she’d have no way to charge it. She sat on her bed, steeling herself. Was she really going to do this? Run away from home? To go track down missing aliens who were probably in trouble? Maybe she should bring someone older, more experienced. 

Except there was no one else. She could ask Mr. Universe, but he tended to stay away from Gem Stuff. Besides, what if Steven saved himself and came back to Beach City, and everyone was gone? And other than him, nobody else bothered with the Gems. She was the only one who  _ could  _ help. 

She heard a knock on her window, and looked up. Amethyst was waiting, looking tired and stressed again. 

Amethyst wouldn’t be able to find her friends alone. 

Connie opened the window, grabbing onto Amethyst again as she shrunk, her feet landing softly on the ground. 

“Thank you,” she whispered to the Gem. 

“Thank  _ you _ ,” Amethyst replied. 

They stood for a second, then Amethyst pulled away, a forced smile on her face. “So, what’s the plan?”

Connie sighed, then said, “You were heading to the Temple, because your instinct was to find other Gems. So, if the other Gems haven’t made it back to the Temple, they’re either heading there, or they’re going to other places Gems would be.”

“Like…” Amethyst’s eyes widened. “Like the other Gem Areas?”

“Yes.” Connie nodded. “The Strawberry Battlefield, Mask Island, the Communication Hub…”

“The Kindergartens?”

“Anywhere. We start at the Warps and go around there until someone shows up.”

Amethyst nodded. “Well, I guess we better go.”

Connie nodded, and her and Amethyst ran down the street, headed for the Beach. They didn’t look back.


	3. Kindergarten

Chapter Three

 

“Where to first?”

Connie shuffled her feet, moving them along the warp, feeling the hard stone beneath her shoes. Where  _ were  _ they going to go first? She only remembered a few Gem Locations that Steven had told her about, and a few that she’d seen in Buddy Budwick’s Journal, but she wasn’t exactly sure which one to check out first. She decided on asking, “Well, who do we want to find first?”

Amethyst thought. “Steven. But if he’s the one in trouble, he might be where… where this all started.”

“Okay, so we need someone who can tell us what happened back there.” Connie said. “Who could do that?”

“Pretty much anyone,” Amethyst shrugged. “But if we’re going for technicals, Pearl or Peridot know all the little details about everything.”

“So, where would they be?”

Amethyst thought. “Pearl could be anywhere, honestly. She had a huge personal thing with everywhere we went, loved it all. Peridot, though…” Amethyst drifted off, her thoughts elsewhere. 

“Yeah?” Connie asked. 

“Well, she could be at the Communication Hub, but that’s incredibly far and pretty uncomfortable. Not somewhere she’d think to go.”

“So?” Connie prompted, as it looked like Amethyst wasn’t going to continue. 

“So she’d go somewhere she’d know.” Amethyst sighed. “Let’s check the Kindergartens.”

“Alright.” Connie nodded. “Let’s go.”

Amethyst nodded, shaking a little as the warp activated under them. A beam of light shot up, and Connie and Amethyst were lifted from the ground, transporting through the light. Connie kept a hand on her sword, careful to make sure her belongings didn’t fly up without her. Amethyst was shaking a little, clenching her fists and staring down at the ground, her hair whipping around her. 

The light vanished, and Connie fell rather gracelessly to her stomach. She groaned and rolled over, looking up at the sky. She gasped and sat up, as she saw the stars above her. They were much brighter here than they were from her window. Even on the beach, when she’d sometimes camped out with Steven, the stars had been obscured a little by the clouds, or the light from the city behind them. But here, they shone down on her, the constellations appearing before her eyes, glimmering on the rocks surrounding her, the moon in the center, full and glowing white. Connie was mesmerized, the stars reflecting in her eyes. 

“Heh, you act like you just came out of the ground.” Amethyst laughed, before sitting beside Connie. “But, yeah, the stars sure are pretty out here.”

“They’re  _ beautiful _ .” Connie breathed, unable to look away. 

“Pearl says they’re prettier up close, but I dunno. Big balls of firey gas, probably gonna explode in a few thousand years? I’ve got some of those in my room. But I guess it’s a matter of perspective.”

Connie blinked, looking over at the Gem beside her. “You were made here, right? On Earth, I mean.”

“Not just on Earth.” Amethyst laughed. “Right  _ here _ , in this very Kindergarten. Welcome to my hometown!”

Connie looked around, the look of awe on her face slowly draining as she took in her surroundings. They were in some sort of canyon, the surrounding walls filled with humanoid-shaped holes, lined up and across, surrounding her from every angle. Connie fought back a feeling of discomfort, a feeling of foreboding, as the silence of the area around her settled in. The only sounds were of the wind blowing through the rocks, and Connie’s own breathing. The holes seemed to be staring at her with unseen eyes, daring her to come closer, reminding her that this place had created alien soldiers, who had been made simply to destroy her planet. 

“Are you alright?” Amethyst asked. 

Connie nodded. She didn’t want to seem rude by being freaked out around Amethyst’s home, especially when Amethyst seemed so comfortable there. “Yeah. Just… never seen this place before.”

“That’s good, I guess.” Amethyst shrugged. “Are you cold? It can get pretty chilly down here.”

“I’m fine. And I have a coat for emergencies.” Connie told her, gesturing to her backpack. “Come on. We’ve got a Peridot to find.”

“Right.” Amethyst nodded. “If she was going to someplace with other gems, someplace she’d feel safe, she’d go here. She’s so proud of being a Kindergartener, this or the Beta Kindergarten is where she’d head. Unless she tried to return to the Barn, but you said that Greg checked there?”

“When he went, he left a note, asking Lapis or Peridot, if they got back, to contact him.” Connie explained. “So if they show up there, Mr. Universe will know.”

“Right.” Amethyst nodded, her focus drifting. She walked ahead, jumping on top of a large rock. “Look! It’s my sittin’ rock!”

“Sitting rock?”

“Yeah! I just to sit here all the time and look up at the sky. It was nice.” Amethyst sighed. “Course, I was confused and tired all the time. Sick of waiting for someone to show up. But eventually someone did, I guess.”

Connie looked up at Amethyst. She looked so upset. 

“But you know, now I’m alone again. So I came ‘round full circle.”

“You’re not alone.” Connie said. “We’ll find the Gems again. And til then, you have me.”

Amethyst smiled a little at that, but it quickly dropped again, her eyes distant. “When I was… when I was running, and wasn’t thinking, I tried to come here at first. It was my first home, the first place that was on my mind. But after a few days, I realized I was closer to the Temple. I figured, if nothing else, we had the warp. I just wanted to get somewhere  _ safe _ , somewhere like  _ home _ . But I’d lost all sense of where home  _ was _ .”

Connie pulled herself up on the rock beside Amethyst, sitting next to her. She didn’t know what to do, what to say. Whatever Amethyst had been through, it had been awful for her. Connie didn’t know what she could say. 

So she simply looked up. “The stars sure are pretty.”

Amethyst laughed. “Yeah… I always thought so, too.”

They stared up for a while, until Connie let out a yawn. Amethyst turned towards her. “Oh, yeah! Sleep schedule. I woke you up pretty early, didn’t I?”

“It’s fine.” Connie shook her head to clear it again. “Let’s start looking for Peridot.”

“No, you need your sleep.” Amethyst told her. “Come with me.”

They slid off the rock, and Amethyst grabbed her hand and walked her to a hole in the wall. “Here, you can sleep here. It’s nice and warm, and perfectly safe.”

Too tired to argue, Connie pulled her sleeping bag off the top of her backpack, rolling it out and climbing inside, too tired to even grab a pillow. She did, however, manage to ask, “You won’t ditch me while I’m sleeping, right?”

Amethyst shook her head, slowly sliding Connie’s bag and sword into the hole above her, looking down at the tired human. 

“Promise?”

Amethyst nodded, smiling again. “Cross my gem.”

Connie giggled, curling up in her bag. Amethyst was right. This hole  _ was _ really warm. 

 

She awoke to the sound of a loud battle cry. 

She sat up, waking with a jolt for the second time in a row, except this time, she grazed her head on the top of a hole in the wall. Gathering herself, she crawled out of the hole, hoisting herself up to the hole above her, managing to grab the hilt of Rose’s sword, pulling it out and whipping around, messy braid flying behind her. She turned to see the Kindergarten before her, empty and once again silent. She paused, listening closely, hoping to hear a telltale footstep or scuffle. After a second, a roar sounded in the distance, so Connie whipped around and ran. 

She never would have run towards the danger two years ago, before she’d gotten trapped in a pink bubble by a nervous boy who wanted to return her bracelet. But it was a bit late to turn back now, especially if Amethyst was fighting something alone. She slid down a bend, and saw Amethyst fighting a Corrupted Gem. 

The gem was tall, its scales as purple as the wall around her. Its horns curved inwards towards its face, no eyes visible, but two mouth barring large, sharp fangs. It had a very long neck, leading to a lizard-like body, only with six clawed legs and spikes up its back. 

Oh, and it was breathing fire. 

Amethyst dodged a burst of flame, yelling in frustration. Connie wanted to charge, but logic took over, and she ran to the side, slinging her sword over her back and starting to climb the wall, finding hand and footholds in the holes lined up the wall. As she climbed, she kept an eye on the battle, making sure she wasn’t seen. 

The Corrupted Gem slithered at Amethyst, getting ready to breathe fire again. Amethyst was sliding, slipping, twirling as she summoned her whips, trying desperately to hit the monster. However, anytime she came close, the monster simply spun and avoided the weapon, trying to hit the purple gem with its flame. Amethyst got more and more frustrated as time went on, eventually just throwing her whips away and jumping at the monster, yelling. The monster simply slapped her aside with its tail, sending her into the wall. Connie held in a gasp, using her energy to push herself on top of the Kindergarten, running across the edge, pulling out her blade. 

Amethyst had hit the wall hard, sliding down towards the ground, landing with a thump. As the monster slid towards her, she blinked up at it, starting to get to her feet, before freezing in place. She stared at it, gripping the wall, her eyes going wide. “No,” she whispered, shaking, dropping to the floor again. “No, no,  _ no _ !”

The monster came closer, the mouth on bottom opening with the intent of burning the purple gem before her. 

“Leave me alone!” Amethyst yelled, covering her ears and shutting her eyes, refusing to look at or defend herself from the danger before her. 

So she didn’t see when Connie threw herself into the canyon, slicing through the air. She did, however, feel the gust of air hit her hard as the monster poofed, and looked up to see Connie, sitting up on the ground, muttering something about her wrist, and a small purple gem on the ground. 

“You,” Amethyst said hesitantly, looking ahead at the girl, “You got it?”

“Simply a matter of surprise.” Connie said, after making sure none of her bones were broken, “Also luck that she didn’t see me. How are you?”

Amethyst looked at her in surprise, before slowly moving up and grabbing the gem, sending it away in a purple bubble. She turned back to Connie, before sinking to the ground again. 

“Is something wrong?” Connie asked, stumbling closer, her feet still sore from the impact. 

“N-no.” Amethyst stuttered, unable to conceal the break in her voice as she started to cry again. 

Connie came closer, pulling Amethyst into another hug. “It’s okay,” she said. “What happened?”

“I’m supposed to be the adult.” Amethyst said, trying to edge away from the girl. “But I go and break down over something as simple as a Corrupted Gem. I’ve been fighting these things for _ ever _ , and… and then I just felt so  _ scared _ , like I did… and I just wanted it to leave me alone…”

“Amethyst, calm down.” Connie said. “It’s fine, really. You’re upset, you’re scared, it’s really fine.”

After a while, Amethyst calmed, taking deep breaths, before pulling away from Connie, keeping her gaze down at the ground. “Let’s get outta here.”

“B-but what about Peridot?” Connie asked, surprised. 

“I spent all night looking. She’s not in here. Checked a little bit around the Kindergarten, too, that’s where I found the Nightflame.” Amethyst gestured to where the gem had fallen, shrugging. “If anything, that proves she’s not here. She may not be any use in a fight but she  _ loves  _ watching crap go down. She would’ve heard it and come runnin’.”

“Unless she was too scared to?” Connie added, prodding a little, as Amethyst started walking towards where they had left her stuff. 

Amethyst considered this for a long while, before saying, “No. Peri doesn’t get scared. She loves the sound of her own voice, she’d come when I was looking for her, or she’d come watch the fight.”

“But Amethyst, whatever happened, it scared you.” Connie reminded her gently, not wanting to acknowledge that the proper term would have been  _ broke you _ . “It probably scared her, too.”

“We’ll check the Beta.” Amethyst said, now ignoring Connie. “That’s probably where she’d go anyway. She’d just love to criticize all the ways it could have been built better, she’s probably sitting around doing it right now.”

Connie sighed and followed, wanting to argue but seeing that it wouldn’t do any good. Amethyst just wanted to leave. 

They went and grabbed her stuff, where she pulled out some food for breakfast and wrapped her ankles and wrist in bandages; they were still sore from the jump, but it was a miracle they hadn’t been broken. Amethyst helped her roll her sleeping bag and shove it back on top of her bag before they walked back to the warp. 

As they beamed up, Connie tried to look Amethyst in the eye, tell her it would be alright, it wasn’t her fault she froze up, but Amethyst refused to look her way, her bangs falling slowly over her eye as she stared at the ground, the rest of her hair flying around her in the warp. 

They landed with a thud, and Connie stumbled, but managed to keep her balance this time. This Kindergarten was almost blindingly bright, with orange walls reflecting against the rising sun. 

“Is this the Beta Kindergarten you guys destroyed?” Connie asked. 

“Heck yeah!” Amethyst smiled a little, sliding off the warp. “Smoky beat the  _ crap  _ outta Jasper! It was great!”

Connie nodded, happy to see Amethyst remembering something enjoyable. Amethyst started explaining some technicals that she’d heard from Peridot about why this Kindergarten was considered the Beta. Connie nodded, before stopping in front of a turn. The holes lining the wall felt just as wrong as Amethyst’s kindergarten, but they also seemed to exude a sense of panic. Like whoever was making these holes was doing so in a rush of desperation. 

“Connie?” Amethyst asked from a few strides ahead, noticing the girl wasn’t following her. 

Connie thought. “We should split up.”

Amethyst stared at her in confusion. “That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever said.”

“No, we can cover more ground that way.” Connie explained. “This Kindergarten looks big, and I’ll have to break to eat or sleep or use the bathroom or something.”

“But,” Amethyst countered, “One of us gets cornered by a Corrupted Gem, and suddenly staying together sounds like a much better plan.” 

“No, no, wait! I think I still have something for that.” Connie said, sliding the backpack from her shoulders and digging through, trying to ignore the smell it had gathered from being in the Kindergarten all night. She eventually pulled out two Cookie Cat Walkie Talkies, throwing one to Amethyst, who flinched before picking it up off of the ground where it had fallen. 

“Steven let me carry these after our Gem Hunt,” Connie explained, “And I kinda forgot to give them back. Now we can talk to each other!”

Amethyst looked back to her, then let out a small laugh. “You’re prepared for everything, aren’t you?”

“Yep! I have everything necessary for survival in this bag!” Connie grinned. “And also a really big sword.”

Amethyst smiled. “Yeah… I, um, guess I should get goin’ then.”

Connie nodded slowly, picking up her walkie talkie, suddenly wondering if Amethyst was scared she wouldn’t do well alone. “Remember, if you need anything, send a message.”

Amethyst nodded. “Yeah. First one to find her gets chips.”

“You’re on!” Connie laughed, watching as Amethyst turned and walked away. 

Connie paused, then turned, walking along the edge of the walls. 


	4. Armor

Chapter Four

 

Connie hummed, her hands brushing over her walkie talkie, looking up at the bright walls. It was a much lighter place than Amethyst’s Kindergarten, but it didn’t change the unnerving feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wondered if maybe Amethyst had been right, if maybe they shouldn’t have split. Amethyst hadn’t checked in on her since that morning, but then again, she wasn’t Pearl, who had checked in on her and Steven every few minutes. 

As she passed by the walls, she suddenly stopped, staring ahead. On the wall was a huge hole, shaped like someone with their arms held out. Connie approached it warily, calling out Peridot’s name as more of an afterthought. She wondered if maybe Peridot would shelter herself here- the hole was certainly big enough for her to hide in. When she got no response, she stopped at the wall, looking up. The hole was too far up for her to reach, so she picked some small rocks up off the ground and threw them inside. There was no reaction; she’d only met Peridot maybe once or twice, but she’d been able to pick up from that that she would have made some sort of vocal response to projectiles being tossed in her general direction. 

Connie turned, before freezing. To her right was a hole, but it was much different from the others- while they had some sort of humanoid shape, this one looked dug into the wall. She approached it, calling for Peridot again, but found nothing. However, as she paused to consider her next move, she heard a clang of metal in the distance. 

_ Metal _ . 

Connie started running towards the sound, turning a bend or two, trying to stay quiet in case she startled her. She slid past a wall before stopping, looking ahead. 

The curved wall was covered in the dug-in holes, the ones that didn’t look like they belonged. In the center of the bended wall was a small fire, which looked ready to die at any given moment, despite the heat offered by their location, and bits of metal lying around it. Some were unrecognizable, but some Connie could see had once been a spoon, another walkie talkie (this one not a Cookie Cat brand) and an outdated Gameboy with the back torn off. She also vaguely recognized a wrench, which was split into thirds. She cautiously approached, after dropping her backpack on the ground and pulling out her sword, holding it at the ready, just in case. 

“Peridot?” she called, nearer to the fire now. 

Suddenly she was knocked over from the side, the wind knocked out of her, as a piercing yell sounded, a scream which sounded terrified and furious at the same time. Connie thumped to the ground, letting her sword fly for fear she’d injure herself if she kept a hold on it, dropping her walkie-talkie as well. She felt pressure as something landed on top of her, holding her down. Connie rolled and kicked, feeling the thing flying. She grabbed her sword from the ground and spun, battle stance ready, only to lower her sword once she saw what was in front of her. 

The Gem known as Peridot was standing before her, covered in little bits of metal that seemed to be trying to replicate armor- though it was clear Peridot was far from actually doing so. Only tiny scraps covered green skin here or there, with a full toaster stuck to her hair, and three forks on her knee. Every other half-second the metal shivered, as Peridot was failing to keep them in place. Peridot looked angry, too, but it was undeniably  _ cute _ . She hissed, her eyes looking ahead, seemingly unperturbed by the fact she was about the size of a medium-sized snowman. 

Connie couldn’t help it, she let out a laugh, the blade of her sword dropping to the ground. 

“ _ DON’T LAUGH AT ME, YOU CLOD! _ ” Peridot screamed, looking infuriated. “ _ I AM A FEARSOME FOE, AND HAVE JUST DECLARED BATTLE! _ ”

“I- I’m sorry.” Connie giggled, trying to stay calm as Peridot grew more frustrated. “It’s just… is that a  _ toaster _ ?”

Peridot paused, glancing up. “Yes, it is. I decided to make it my helmet in case someone tried to hit me from above, then they’d-  _ IT’S NOT IMPORTANT _ !”

“C-calm down, it’s me.” Connie said, still laughing. “I’m Connie, remember? Steven’s friend?”

Peridot paused, then her metal armor fell off as she calmed. “Ah, yes. Steven’s friend. You’re the one who turned him into an infant.”

“Um, no? I can’t turn people into babies.” Connie said, dropping her sword and crossing her arms. 

“Oh, yes, it was some ‘shapeshifting thing.’” Peridot sighed, before sitting down around her tiny fire, using her mind to gather her armor into a small pile. “You can sit down, too.”

Connie approached slowly, sitting beside the small gem. Connie was almost a head taller than her. 

“I…  _ apologize  _ for my aggressive behavior.” Peridot muttered, staring at the ground in frustration again. “I haven’t been my wonderful self lately.”

“Neither have the other gems.” Connie admitted, running her hands through her braid. 

“You’ve been in contact with the others?” Peridot asked, a glimmer of hope and- was that fear?- in her eyes. 

“Oh! Hold on!” Connie stumbled to her feet and ran to her walkie-talkie, picking it up. “Amethyst? Are you there?”

For a brief second, Connie thought she wouldn’t respond. Then she heard, “Yeah, bud. I’ve been hangin’ out. How’s it goin’ over there?”

Connie was about to reply, her finger on the button, as suddenly the walkie-talkie was grabbed from her by Peridot. “How do you work this stupid thing?” she asked, shaking it. 

“Peridot!” Connie yelled, as she could hear Amethyst repeat her message, probably wondering if the connection was breaking. 

Peridot pressed and held the button, figuring out what it did. “Amethyst! Amethyst! Hi, it’s me, Earth’s one and only magnificent Peridot!”

There was a pause, before Amethyst said, “Holy crap, Connie. You actually  _ found  _ her?”

“ _ I  _ found the Human myself.” Peridot seemed miffed that Amethyst had believed anything else. “She came too near to my collection of potential armor, so I attacked.”

“You  _ attacked _ Connie?” Amethyst asked, her voice starting to grow worried and a little angry. 

Peridot didn’t seem to pick up on this, so Connie started to talk before she could. “It’s alright, Amethyst, no one got hurt.”

“Of course not, my armor protected me from harm.” Peridot said louder, trying to talk over her. 

“Ugh, I’ll be right there. Where are you?”

“The place where I claimed victory over the enemy Jasper!” Peridot yelled, looking extremely pleased with herself. 

“Yeah, of course. Hold on tight, Connie.”

Connie sighed, “Got it,” before turning to the green gem again. “Can I have the Walkie Talkie back?”

“No! It’s metal, and therefore it’s mine!” Peridot yelled, pulling away.

“No, it’s  _ Steven’s _ .”

Peridot froze up at Steven’s name, allowing Connie to grab the communicator away. Peridot yelled, but didn’t pursue further, as Connie clipped the Cookie Cat to her belt. She moved to sit by the fire, which had almost died by now. Peridot sat across from her, not wanting to go near her again in case she stole one of her other artifacts. 

“So…” Connie started, after waiting a minute. “You seem really… calm.” No, that was  _ definitely  _ not the word to describe Peridot. “I mean, calmer than Amethyst was.”

“Yes. That is logical.” Peridot sniffed, grabbing a stick at her side and poking the dying embers with it, hoping to ignite them again. 

“Do you…” Connie sighed, before deciding to wait for Amethyst. “How’d you get over here, anyway?”

“I stole a car door and used it to fly nearby.” Peridot explained. “It broke, though, so I walked the rest of the way. I kept getting lo- enjoying the view, so I decided to wait here until other gems arrived.”

So, Connie had been right when she’d hypothesized that the other gems would be looking for each other. “Why’d you come  _ here _ ?”

“Wanted to find the others, and this place is where I work.” Peridot shrugged, still avoiding Connie’s gaze. “W-where I  _ worked _ , I mean. Before I joined the Crystal Gems. Not here, specifically, of course, but…”

“Peridot…” Connie could see that the gem was confused, and a little sad. 

“And it was also funny to see how incompetent these Kindergarteners were!” Peridot added, cracking a smile. “I mean,  _ seriously _ ? I found  _ three  _ Nephrites that were made upside-down!  _ Upside-down _ !”

Connie sighed, staring down at the ground. 

She heard rapid footsteps, and looked back up to see Amethyst slide into view, her hair tied up into a quick ponytail. “Connie?”

“Amethyst?” Connie smiled. 

“AMETHYST!” Peridot yelled, running up and jumping at the purple gem, throwing her arms around her in a hug. Amethyst froze up, a flicker of panic in her eyes, before hugging back slightly. “You  _ came  _ for me! Like I  _ knew  _ you would!” Peridot pulled away, one hand on her hip, gesturing with the other. “I mean, this is  _ me, _ I’m kind of a big deal.”

Amethyst gave her a look. “Did you really attack Connie?”

“She was invading my space.” Peridot stated, huffing as Connie came over. “I gave her a battle cry as a warning.”

“You literally jumped at me and screamed.” Connie said. 

“ _ Battle cry. _ ”

Amethyst sighed, looking around. “So you, like, set up camp here?”

“Yeah! The, the warp pad moved, I think.” Peridot said. “So obviously I couldn’t return.”

“You just got lost, didn’t you?” Amethyst asked, heading over to the now burnt-out firepit. 

“N-no.”

Peridot and Connie went to sit by Amethyst, Peridot proudly starting to story of how she scared away a raccoon. 

“Peridot,” Amethyst interrupted her, “We need to talk about… what happened.”

Peridot froze, stopping her chatter for a second, her eyes going distant and fearful, grabbing a clump of earth with her hand. Amethyst called her name a few more times, before Peridot turned to her. “You don’t have the others with you, do you?” she asked. 

Amethyst paused before shaking her head. 

Peridot let out a nervous laugh. “You came for me first, o-of course.”

“Do you know what happened?” Connie asked. “A little over a week ago? When everyone got separated?”

“You don’t know?” Peridot asked, looking less than surprised to see them shake their heads. “Ah, of course. I guess it worked, then.”

“What worked?” Amethyst asked, her voice tense. 

Peridot looked up at them. “Why, the reset button.”


	5. Explaining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a while to write. Let me know if I did anything wrong.

Chapter Five

 

“Reset button?” Amethyst asked, a slight panic in her voice. 

“Well, that’s the simplest way to put it.” Peridot shrugged. “I believe the proper term was the Activator, but the writing on the wall was faded. That’s what happens when you leave things in the middle of a planet.”

“W-what?” Amethyst looked confused, fear creeping into her voice. 

“Peridot, start from the beginning.” Connie said, watching her carefully. 

“Fine, but I must say, my memory has been messed with, something I am  _ not  _ happy about.” Peridot grumbled. “Firsty, I remember Garnet and Steven showing up, telling us there was some sort of water-loaded blahblahblah that we needed to check out or whatever. We needed Lazuli to release the water and me to work the tech. So we went, Steven tried to make me sing about  _ friendship _ , and we got there. Lazuli removed the water, and I came in. I recall being… unsettled, by the murals on the wall of the building, though I don’t recall specifics.” Peridot shuddered. “Steven told me I could leave if I was uncomfortable, they’d come get me when they found what they were looking for.” she turned back to Amethyst. “I remember that you said to ‘ _ Chillax _ .’ What is the meaning of that?”

Amethyst didn’t reply, staring intently at the wall, her gaze distant, shivering slightly. Connie grabbed her hand, looking back to Peridot. “Go on.”

“Well, I left and fe- caught my foot in the tree roots and was trapped underneath it after it caved in. So I waited for you all to assist me in my escape, but you never did. Then… it went off.”

“What went off?” Connie asked, as Amethyst slowly slid her hand away, biting her lip. 

“The Activator.” Peridot said. “I heard Amethyst running before it started, tried to ask her for assistance, and then it blasted. Even in my mindless panic I remember Lazuli flying away, several other feet following. Of course I was only minorly affected- while I spent a Planetary Rotation or two in a frenzy, the blast only hit me a little from inside the den, and since I was in a confined space, I was able to calm myself. So I left and tried to re-enter the Activation Building, but it refused entry beyond the first room. I got all the information I needed, though!”

“Amethyst?” Connie interrupted, noticing that the purple gem’s trembling had grown more intense. 

Amethyst looked to her, confused, before slowly saying, “K-keep going.”

“Are you alright?” Peridot asked, concern in her voice. 

“I’m  _ fine _ .” Amethyst growled, clenching her fist and staring back at the ground. “What info didya get?”

“Well,” Peridot tensed, watching Amethyst carefully, before continuing, “I  _ got _ the information, but I’m afraid that with the Activator affecting my memories, I may have forgotten some things.” When nobody objected to her continuing, Peridot sighed and kept talking. “From what I can gather, it was built towards the end of the Gem War, when Homeworld was trying to figure out how to lessen the Crystal Gems’ forces and gain more allies. So they created the Activator, which was intended to… to start a gem over from scratch. To wipe their minds, start them over on their intended path.”

“Oh no.” Connie gasped. The gems hadn’t come back to Beach City… they hadn’t found each other… they hadn’t tried to contact her… what if they had been  _ restarted _ ? What if they didn’t remember  _ anything _ ?

“Well, that was the intention. From the limited murals and faded writing, I could gather that the gems going feral was an unintended side-effect. There was… there was  _ another  _ side effect, but I can’t quite remember  _ what _ …” Peridot paused, looking again to Amethyst. “A-and another thing was, they wanted the gems to be loyal to Homeworld again, so when they blank-slated them, they were to be made so that their minds returned to their original purpose. They would be inclined to repeat such, and… and would go back to Homeworld’s forces.”

Amethyst shook her head, staring at the ground. “No… No…”

“So what happened to the other gems?” Connie asked. “You and Amethyst remember stuff, right? So maybe the Gems are okay?”

“Oh, no, they’re in a lot trouble.” Peridot shrugged. “Amethyst was the furthest from the blast, as far as I can tell, but the others were extremely close.”

Connie looked over to the gem Peridot was speaking about, only to see that she was shaking harder now, holding herself, and muttering rapidly. “Amethyst-”

“From what I can tell,” Peridot continued, having not noticed what was happening, “They were probably the ones that set it off-”

“Amethyst!” Connie yelled, as the purple gem grabbed her head and let out a yell. 

Peridot yelled the gem’s name, too, and Connie grabbed onto her arms, trying to calm her down. Amethyst shook the human away and punched the ground, still yelling, tears forming again in her eyes. 

They kept calling for her, trying to reassure her, as she fell to her knees, grabbing her head again, her hair falling from the ponytail and surrounding her face. As Connie approached, Amethyst whipped around, hair flying, her gem glowing as she summoned her weapon. Her eyes, widened with terror, softened once she saw Connie step back in a fear, the girl’s gaze and arm drifting almost involuntarily towards where she’d left her sword. Tears were flowing more freely now, and the gem collapsed to the ground, curling up into a ball, hugging her knees and burying her head into her legs. 

“Amethyst?” Connie sat near her, slowly putting a hand on her. “I-I’m sorry.”

She flinched as Peridot approached, sitting by Amethyst’s face, but Peridot looked… sad. Nervous. Maybe regretful. “No,  _ I’m _ sorry. I should’ve stopped talking. Something you probably won’t hear me say again.”

“What’s wrong?” Connie asked, directing her question to nobody in particular. 

“The blast from the Activator affected her memory.” Peridot explained. “But, since she was the farthest of the blast, it affected her differently.”

“What does that  _ mean _ ?” Connie asked, fear rising in her voice. 

“I don’t  _ know _ !” Peridot yelled, her voice rising over Amethyst’s sobbing, getting increasingly worried. “It barely affected me because I was able hidden and able to collect myself, they were all out in the open! Amethyst just happened to almost be out of its radius… I  _ think _ ?”

“What are we supposed to do?” Connie asked.

Peridot looked down at Amethyst, and slowly placed her hand onto Amethyst’s, her voice suddenly calmer. “Amethyst, take a deep breath.” 

“What?” Connie asked.

“Amethyst,” Peridot said again, “Please take a deep breath.”

Amethyst paused her crying to take a breath, hair falling across her eyes. 

“Now,” Peridot continued, “Breathe in for a few seconds, then breathe out. Slowly.”

“What are you doing?” Connie asked quietly, looking curiously at Peridot.

Peridot glanced up at her for a second as Amethyst breathed, saying, “Amethyst’s not the first gem to have some really bad memories. We figured out how to help.”

She looked back to Amethyst, adding, “Amethyst? Do you need anything?”

Amethyst shook her head, her breathing starting to get more natural, her eyes drying up. 

“You’re safe, Amethyst. Nothing’s going to get to you here.” Peridot continued reassuring her, her voice constant. “It’s okay. We’re here.”

Connie slowly stood and walked beside Peridot, sitting by her again. “Amethyst? What just happened?”

Amethyst didn’t reply, instead slowly pulling herself into a sitting position, staring down at the ground.

“Do you think you can tell us?” Peridot asked. Amethyst avoided her gaze. “It’s okay if you don’t want to.”

Silence.

“Amethyst,” Connie slowly placed a hand on her shoulder, “It’s okay. It’s really okay.”

Amethyst sighed. “I… I don’t know.”

“That’s okay, too.”

Amethyst continued, her voice hoarse as she wiped her eyes with her arm. “You just kept talking about… the  _ thing _ , and then you said we set it off…”

“Was that incorrect to say?” Peridot asked.

“No, that’s the problem,” Amethyst sniffled, “I… I think you’re  _ right _ .” When nobody said anything, she continued. “Garnet told me to run. I know that much. Garnet told me to  _ run _ , I thought I could help, so she just picked me up and threw me and I knew she was serious so I  _ ran _ and then that  _ thing  _ went off and it was  _ awful _ . I didn’t know where I was or what I was doing and I just had to hide. It was the scariest thing that ever happened to me, and when I kept thinking about it, it just all came back.”

Peridot sighed. “I didn’t think about how it would affect the other gems; It’s my fault, isn’t it?”

“It’s nobody’s fault.” Connie interrupted. “Amethyst, do  _ you  _ need to go rest somewhere? You could probably stay in the temple for a while, or if you want company I’m sure Mr. Universe would-”

“N-no! I’ve gotta find the others!” Amethyst said, finally meeting Connie’s eyes. “I can’t just sit around not  _ knowing  _ where they are!”

They paused, and then Connie said, “Okay.” She slowly reached and hugged Amethyst. Peridot joined a second later, throwing her arms around the purple gem, who pulled the others in closer, starting to cry again. 

They stayed there for a while, the sun moving across the small area of the canyon, shadows falling across the walls.

 

“So,” Connie asked, looking up at Peridot from the small fire she’d been able to start, “What are we gonna do now?”

“The Activator was most probably horribly rushed.” Peridot said, a distaste in her voice. “So my hypothesis is that we will be able to restore the memory of the Gems. After all, I have gained memories of what happened through minor incidents, and Amethyst has… has shown memories may be coming back.”

She cast a glance at Amethyst, who was huddled by the fire, one of Connie’s blankets hanging over her shoulders. Amethyst stared intently at the fire, before saying, “So we’re gonna get them back?”

“Yes. Since the builders of the Activator will have wanted them to return to Homeworld, and reset their minds to desire what they were built for, I believe they will flock to areas of the planet where other gems would have been-”

“Yeah, that’s how we found you here!” Connie interrupted. “We assumed you’d be at a Kindergarten.”

Peridot looked severely displeased at the fact Connie had already figured this out. “Yes.  _ But _ , they will also go to places they ‘belong’ to, not specifically somewhere they are comfortable. My instincts were to go to a Kindergarten, where my rank on Homeworld says I should be. So Lazuli, Pearl, Garnet and Steven will go to where they feel they belong.”

“Which would be where?” Connie asked. 

Peridot paused, before admitting. “I’m not entirely sure. There are a lot of Gem Locations, and I’ve only been to a few. Amethyst, do you-”

“Dude, we only go to those locations when we  _ need  _ to.” Amethyst shrugged. “I vaguely remember a few, but not enough to know where everyone would be.”

“And I only remember what Steven has told me about.” Connie said. 

“So,” Peridot asked, “Where are we going to find a list of Gem Locations on the planet that we can, by trial and error, sort out?”

Connie paused. “I might know something that can help.”


	6. The Screaming Shadow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added a small headcanon about gems in, I hope y'all don't mind.

Chapter Six

 

Connie turned over in her sleeping bag. They’d decided to camp in the Kindergarten that night, something that Connie had been hesitant about. She’d wanted to set out immediately to the Buddy Budwick Library, where she and Steven had left the namesake’s journal of Gem Artifacts. But Amethyst had pointed out that the Library would be closed by then, and Peridot mentioned wanting to dissect the Walkie Talkies Connie and Amethyst had brought, although currently she wasn’t really dissecting, more like pressing a button on one and giggling when she heard herself on the second. 

Connie couldn’t sleep. The hard floor of the creepy canyon wasn’t exactly comfortable, and thoughts of the Activator kept flashing through her head. Amethyst’s panic attack had been awful, and she could tell that it bothered Amethyst to no end. She was sleeping, now, in one of the holes along the wall. Connie found the shape in the shadows that was hopefully her, watched her roll around, not needing to breathe while she slept. She kept tossing, though, as if she wasn’t dreaming if something good. 

Peridot had said Amethyst was the farthest from the blast. If this is what the Activator had done to her, what had it done to the others?

As she rolled over to sleep, she heard a rustle above her. She looked up, squinting towards the top of the canyon wall. Was that a figure? Connie sat up, seeing that yes, there was someone on top of the wall. She glanced over her shoulder, to where Peridot was still trying to figure out how the battery on the walkie talkies worked. She wouldn’t be very much help; Connie had a strong assumption that Peridot didn’t know the meaning of the word “stealth”. She slowly slid out of her sleeping bag, grabbing a long-sleeved dress from the top of her bag and throwing it over her nightgown. She glanced up to see the figure still there, but to her surprise, it began to move. It had appeared to be sitting, but was now standing up, slowly moving away. Connie scrambled to the canyon wall, grabbing a hold of the bottom of one of the odder holes, hoisting herself up onto the ledge and reaching for the handhold. She kept climbing up, reaching for small cracks in the wall, as the shape started to leave. She accelerated her speed, almost losing her grip. She kept climbing, finally dragging herself up to the top of the canyon wall. Her arms ached as she pulled herself to the top, glancing back to see tiny spots that were Amethyst and Peridot, still thoroughly distracted. 

She turned back around, to see the shadow disappear into the trees. “Wait!” she called, then swore to herself. What if the figure didn’t  _ want  _ to be found? Her plan already gone, she started to run after the shadow, hoping to catch up, but running headlong into a tree branch. She gasped as she landed on the ground, her head starting to hurt. Slowly, she got to her feet again and kept going, now lost. Where had the figure gone? She couldn’t hear footsteps. She started to go, looking for trampled leaves. She eventually found some, but the imprints were barely there, almost as if the walker had almost floated their way through the leaves. 

As Connie followed the tracks, she started to wonder- what if the figure had been a person? And they’d located a runaway child and pair of aliens, and was running off to the police to report them? What if it was a corrupted monster? Ugh, she’d forgotten her sword! 

However, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted it. The figure. Connie whipped around to face it, seeing it obscured in shadow, almost as if it didn’t want to be seen. Connie slowly approached, wondering if the shadow had seen her. When two bright eyes, the only things shining in the light, looked towards her, Connie froze. “H-hello?” she asked. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

As she approached, she struggled to see the figure in the dim light. It kept itself hidden well, watching her carefully, stepping backwards a little. 

“Don’t- I’m not a threat.”

Was this one of the gems? Certainly didn’t act like it. It kept creeping back, almost scared of her. 

“If you’d just wait a seco-”

At that, the figure let out a scream. The scream blocked out all of Connie’s other senses, pounding into her ears, as she put her hands over them and yelled, too, begging for it to stop, but she couldn’t even hear her own words. Connie had shut her eyes- she opened them to see the figure run away, into the woods, but the sound continued. Connie stumbled forward, attempting to follow, but the scream still pressed on, reverberating in her ears, if anything getting louder. She felt hands on her back, and she tried to shake them off. Who was grabbing her? Was it an enemy, a gem? She didn’t know, nor did she care. She kept shaking, turning, shouting, trying to get the hands away from her, get the scream out of her head. 

Some hands managed to latch onto her and started running, sprinting away, carrying her off. She kicked and screamed, barely able to squint her eyes open to see a shadow across the moon as they ran through the trees. She just heard the scream, the figure’s scream, and it was slowly taking her over. She couldn’t do  _ anything _ .

She felt a drop, a land, vibrations as whoever was holding her started yelling something Connie couldn’t hear. She felt a familiar fabric bounce against her arm as she kept fighting, punching, trying to get away. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, she just wanted to fall to the ground and stay there until the sound went away. Why wouldn’t it  _ go away _ ?

The figure ran again, its running slowing as they got more tired. Well, good for her. If she was dropped, then she could just hide and sit away until she stopped hearing everything. She wasn’t even sure she was thinking at that point- what was she  _ doing _ ? What was going on? Where were they now?

She felt the air around her change, the dark night turning into a bright feeling, and when she looked a little, she could see a shining light. She stopped kicking for a second until the light disappeared, replaced by a dark green with bright splatters through it that hurt her eyes. She proceeded to keep fighting, her punches getting fewer by the second as her arms started to tingle with a tiredness as the figure kept running.

And then, just like that, Connie couldn’t breathe. 

She couldn’t see, her eyes hurt when she tried to open them. She realized that the pressing air had been replaced by water- cold, clear water. She’d landed on the bottom of something, and started kicking again, but this time to propel herself up, to get air back into her lungs. As her mind drifted to this purpose, her determination to survive, she barely noticed the water pressing around her replacing the scream, sending it away. 

She burst out of the water with one final kick, taking in a deep breath as she made it out. She flipped her head back, getting her hair out of her face. As she kept breathing- her gasps getting less shallow, less ragged- she started to notice an eery silence. The lack of a scream. It was quiet. 

Well, not for long. 

“Connie!” came two yells, and she felt herself dragged out of the water by Amethyst and Peridot. As her eyes adjusted, she saw around her dark brambles making a wall, leading up to a light in the ceiling. She turned to see behind her what she’d been pulled out of, and saw a tall fountain, at the top sitting Rose Quartz. She only got a split second look, though, before Amethyst turned her around, looking her over. 

“Are you okay? Oh my gosh, what happened? Can you hear me? Connie?”

“Y-yeah.” Connie numbly nodded, her eyes widening as she started noticing around her, little rose petals on the ground. “Where… where are we?”

“We’re at Rose’s Fountain.” Amethyst explained. “It’s where she stored some of her healing tears, just in case… Are you sure you’re okay?”

Connie nodded, and Amethyst pulled her into a hug. “Oh, I’m so sorry!”

“What happened?” Connie asked, before turning to see Peridot sitting on the edge of the fountain, poking the water gently. 

“What’s  _ in  _ this stuff?” she asked. 

“Tears, mostly.” Amethyst replied. “I just said.”

“Yeah, but I wonder…” Peridot turned to Amethyst. “May I take a sample of this?”

“I don’t see why not.” Amethyst shrugged, though she was still visibly shaken. 

“Wow, thanks.” Connie followed Peridot with her gaze, watching as she walked over to Connie’s bag, which lay on the floor, and dumped the water in her water bottle onto the ground. 

“H-hey!” Connie tried to protest, her voice still a little hoarse from however much screaming she’d been doing. 

“You won’t need this.” Peridot shrugged, walking around her, before pausing and turning back. “I- I’m sorry I wasn’t watching you.”

Connie was surprised. “N-no, it was my fault.”

“What were you doing out there?” Amethyst asked. 

“I saw something, I thought it might have been a gem.” Connie explained. “So I followed, and then it-”

“It screamed?” Amethyst asked, sadness in her voice. 

“Yeah.” Connie nodded. “How did-”

“It woke me up.” Amethyst explained. “It’s simply a warning call for Gems, but we never knew what it did to humans…”

“W-warning call?”

“Yeah, when we feel something dangerous approaching, it’s a last-ditch effort to give warning to others, but it’s incredibly hard to do, and requires a lot of energy.” Amethyst then swore under her breath. “I bet that figure didn’t even go far, we could’ve caught her! I wasn’t thinking, just wanted to get you here… it’s a good thing it worked, or…”

Amethyst paused again, looking at Connie’s face again. “I shouldn’t have let you come.”

Connie shook her head. “You didn’t  _ let  _ me do anything. I knew something might happen when I said I’d come. I just… I’m sorry.”

“Well,” Peridot said, coming up behind them, “It’s clearly everyone’s fault, so let’s just agree to all feel bad so we can move on.”

“That’s not a very good idea.” Connie murmured, just now realizing that she was still wet from the fountain. 

“Well, we’re not gonna find the other gems by arguing and moping.” Peridot looked to Amethyst. “You said it was a warning call?”

“Yeah? Don’t you guys still do that on Homeworld?”

“Never heard of it. But it did sound an awful lot like…” Peridot paused, before shaking and continuing. “Anyway, it means that there  _ was  _ a gem you saw, Connie, but there’s still the chance it could be corrupted. I think we should stick with the original plan.”

“We can’t go to the Library  _ now _ , Connie’s hurt!” Amethyst argued. 

“I’ll be f-f-fine.” Connie shivered. 

“No, you can’t go into the library looking like  _ that _ .” Amethyst said. “You may be fully healed of a lot of things, but you’re still tired, you probably still have the Call hidden somewhere in your head, and you also probably didn’t get any sleep.”

“Well, we have to go today. We’ve gotta try and find the Gems as fast as we can.” Connie said. “But now that you mention it, if I go in the Library, and my parents reported me missing…”

“Oh, that could be an issue.” Amethyst nodded. “And you and Greg reported  _ us _ missing, too, right?”

“Yeah, we sent your guys’ picture with Steven everywhere in the city.” Connie nodded. 

“Meaning, they’ll recognize both of us.” Amethyst said. “So, who  _ wouldn’t  _ they recog-”

They both froze, and turned to look at Peridot, who was shaking Connie’s water bottle, looking at the tears she’d collected. She looked back up at them, annoyance in her gaze. “What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter's my favorite. This is gonna be so great!


	7. Peridot in the Library

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may be one of my favorite things I have ever written.

Chapter Seven

 

“I don’t believe this will be necessary.”

Connie gave Peridot a glare. “You can’t just walk in there in a full Homeworld Uniform Peridot.”

“Yes, but we already planned to introduce my… differences as a ‘Cosplay’.” Peridot argued. “I don’t see why I have to wear everything else.”

They were now hidden behind some trees, the Buddy Budwick Library behind them. And Peridot was wearing some clothes Connie had pulled from her bag- which included a long-sleeved black dress, small yellow flip-flops and a pink baseball cap.

“Gems are pretty recognizable.” Amethyst explained, sitting on top of Connie’s bag and playing with the Walkie Talkie. “While we don’t have pictures of you and Lapis around town, it’ll still be a little suspicious to see someone with a gem on her forehead and Homeworld Uniform waltz into a Library and demand a book on alien artifacts.”

“She’s not _demanding_ anything.” Connie explained, turning to the Green Gem. “You’re going to take my walkie-talkie, and I’ll direct you to the nonfiction section, where we left the journal. You just have to grab it and get out.”

“Simple enough.” Peridot shrugged. “Your primitive communication devices are ridiculously easy to master.”

“Yeah, try not to say stuff like that in the Library.” Connie winced. “Just… try to act like a human.”

“Act?” Peridot looked a little confused.

“Pretend. Imagine yourself.” Connie tried.

Peridot shook her head and took the Walkie Talkie from Amethyst. “You humans are so strange. Are…” she then turned to Amethyst, concern on her face. “Are you going to be alright? Yesterday was…”

“I’ll be fine.” Amethyst shrugged, trying to force a smile. “I’ll just be taking a break over there while Connie talks to you.” She gestured towards a tall tree, where she’d already placed Connie’s pillow.

“Well, okay.” Peridot nodded. “Off I go!”

She hooked the Walkie Talkie to a belt clip on her dress and started walking towards the Library, her steps getting increasingly more awkward as she tried to walk in the flip-flops. About halfway through the parking lot, she flopped to the ground and let out a dramatic scream, ripping the flip-flops off and trying to bite them in half.

“This was a mistake.” Connie confirmed, watching with growing concern.

“Yeah, well, I’m not turning into a cat to get in there.” Amethyst called from her spot under the tree, where she was watching with a little more amusement than Connie. “Last time I tried to sneak a book out of there as an animal they called the pound and Pearl had to bust me out.”

“Why didn’t you just change back?” Connie asked.

“I was banned from the Library.” Amethyst shrugged. “But that was, like, thirty years ago.”

Connie didn’t ask for elaboration, instead watching Peridot, who had finally ripped her flip-flops to shreds and was heading back towards the Library, looking very proud of herself.

A few seconds after she walked in, Connie heard a buzz on her Walkie-Talkie. “I have entered this establishment. Everyone seems to be… _looking_ at me. Should I retreat?”

“No, keep going.” Connie sighed. “Remember the plan.”

“Right. Onwards!” Peridot said, continuing to walk.

It only took about five seconds before she called in again. “Where is the nonfiction section?”

“Ask a Librarian.” Connie said. “They’ll have nametags on.”

“Nametags.” Peridot muttered, before walking forwards. She didn’t remove her finger from the call button, though, so Connie heard her say, “Librarian, where is the nonfiction section?”

“‘m not a Librarian.” said a very confused man’s voice.

“But you have a ‘nametag’.”

“That’s a logo on a shirt.”

“WELL HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?”

Connie groaned as Peridot finally moved on, grumbling to herself. She eventually did find a Librarian, who directed her down a few aisles. “What are you dressed up for?” the Librarian asked.

“Cosplay.” Peridot responded.

“What’s your cosplay from?”

“Camp Pining Hearts. Not that you would know that you clo-”

“Go.” Connie whispered through the Walkie-Talkie, mentally slapping herself for ever thinking this was a good idea.

Peridot continued on, occasionally muttering an observation on another guest in the Library. Connie started playing with her hair, only to realize something and turn to the purple gem under the tree. “Amethyst, did Rose’s Fountain wash my hair?”

Amethyst shrugged. “Probably. It also won’t get knots for a while.”

Eventually, Peridot said, “Steven’s Friend-”

“Connie.”

“ _Connie_ , your picture is on the wall.”

The human girl groaned. “Yes, that’s because I’m missing. We’ve been over this.”

“Why are they calling you _Constance_?”

“Peridot, just keep going.”

“You used to have vision enhancers?”

“ _Peridot, just-_ ”

“Hey, kid. Who are you talking to?” Connie froze as she heard the woman’s voice over the Walkie Talkie. Oh gosh, Peridot couldn’t say it was her, not when she was on a missing poster right next to her, what was she supposed to-

“Gimme the Cookie Cat.” came Amethyst’s voice behind her, as she grabbed the Walkie Talkie and started talking. “Hey… _Petra_ , be nice to the kids in the Library!”

“Who are you-” Peridot began, before apparently realizing. “-you, you, um…” she let out a nervous laugh. “I’m not Petra. I’m… I’m _Piercy_ today! Yeah, for the cosplay!”

“Who’s that?” the woman’s voice asked.

“Hey, I’m Petra’s mother.” Amethyst replied, the lie slipping off her tongue quite easily. “I sent her in to get me some books before we go off to the… the Comicon. In another town. We’ve got quite a drive but she was so excited to get in costume…”

“Why didn’t you go in here with her?” the woman asked.

“I’m… uh…” Amethyst stuttered, trying to buy time. “I’m taking care of… the dog. In the car. Can’t leave a dog alone in a car!”

She took her thumb off of the button, and turned to Connie with a worried expression. “Uh, can you make dog noises?”

As the woman asked, “A dog?”, Connie started making small yips.

“Yeah, that’s… that’s our dog…” Amethyst giggled. “Her name is… Her name is _Pearl_.” She then slapped herself on the forehead.

“Amethyst…” Connie warned.

“Yes, Pearl is my dog.” Peridot said over the Walkie-Talkie, having caught on to the lie and now sounded very amused. “She’s dressed as the Camp Pining Hearts terrier June. She… she likes to… eat, and… wear clothes, and… be a dog.”

“How old are you?” the woman asked.

“I’m-” Peridot began, but Amethyst quickly interrupted her.

“She’s eight!”

“NO I’M NOT!”

“Yes you are, sweetie. Now hurry up and get my… my science books so we can go.”

“Yes, your science books…” Peridot repeated. “Now, leave my presence strange human!”

Once Peridot was apparently out of earshot, she asked, “What’s a science book?”

“Just get the journal and go before someone calls CPS.” Connie said, as Amethyst handed her the Cookie Cat and went to go lie down again.

“What’s that?” Peridot asked as she walked, letting out an “ooh!” as she apparently saw something to her interest.

“It’s people who take care of human kids who have bad parents.” Connie explained.

“Amethyst’s not a bad ‘parent’.” Peridot said, as she grabbed something off of a shelf. “Steven’s still alive, after all.”

“Just, please, get the Journal.” Connie practically begged, starting to wonder if someone was going to go in the parking lot to look for “Petra’s” mother.

“Fine.” Peridot sniffed, walking a little farther down. Eventually, she said, “It is _under_ the shelf, correct?”

“Yes!” Connie said, relieved.

“I believe I have located it.” Peridot said. “Is it brown, with a blank cover, and strange symbols in swirls?”

“Cursive?”

“Nevermind, I see the Temple. I have it located and will deliver it to you shortly.”

“Hey,” came another Librarian’s voice, “What book do you have?”

In response, Peridot hissed.

Connie groaned and placed her head in her hands, handing the Walkie Talkie off to Amethyst again and sinking to the ground.

“Petra?” Amethyst called. “You there… sweetie?”

No response.

“Did you turn the Walkie Talkie off?” Amethyst asked, again with no reply.  “Petra? Peri? _Peri_?”

Connie looked up to see Amethyst in a panic, repeating Peridot’s name and trying to press buttons, calling for her. “Calm down!” Connie said, standing up and putting her hands on Amethyst’s shoulders.

Amethyst looked at her, and took a couple deep breaths. “I… I’m sorry, it’s just… I lost everyone else…”

Before she could respond, they heard what sounded like a distant yell. They turned, stunned, to the Library, where Peridot had burst from the doors, a huge stack of books in hand, screaming at the top of her lungs. She ran back to Connie and Amethyst, before freezing and turning to them. “I am now in possession of the book you need.”

“Why do you have so many?” Connie asked, eyeing the stack.

“These… these are necessary.”

“Peridot…” Amethyst asked carefully, “Did you check those out?”

Peridot blinked at her. “Check… out?”

Connie looked to Amethyst. “Let’s get to the Warp Pad.”

“Yeah.”

 

“So, after you hissed at the Librarian, what happened?” Connie asked.

They were sitting in a field, watching the sun move above them, as Peridot related her story.

“I dropped this.” Peridot explained, holding up the Walkie Talkie, which was bent in the middle. “And when your noise wasn’t coming through, Librarian asked where my ‘mother’ was. I told him I didn’t have a mother. He asked about a ‘father’, and then a ‘parent with no gender’ or ‘legal guardian’. Since the hunk of rock I emerged from in my original Kindergarten did not have a ‘gender’, I told him that the latter was correct. He offered to take me back to my guardian, but since I had no desire to return to my home Kindergarten, I simply grabbed what I needed and retreated.”

“Meaning you screamed and ran away?” Amethyst asked.

“In a sense.”

Connie was neatly folding up the dress Peridot had worn, and looked over at Amethyst as she asked, “Can we fix the Walkie Talkie?”

Amethyst shrugged.

“I may be able to if I have the right materials.” Peridot shrugged. “My metal powers can straighten the bend, but then I will need a new ‘battery’.”

“I don’t know if I have those.” Connie said.

“That’s alright, I will take some from an unsuspecting human next time we are in their area.” Peridot shrugged. “Speaking of which, which area are we located in?”

Amethyst looked around. “Um, let’s see, this is a field, full of giant strawberries, and large battle weapons. Where do you think?”

Peridot considered. “...Texas?”

“Is this the Strawberry Battlefield?” Connie asked.

“Duh.” Amethyst said. “I… it might be wishful thinking, but I assumed Pearl might… she always liked to come here.”

“Well, now that we have the Journal, we can discuss our next plan of action.” Peridot said, holding up the journal she’d stolen.

“Um, what are the rest of the books for?” Connie asked, glancing again at the stack Peridot had insisted on carrying with her.

“They are necessary for our next attempt at finding the other gems.” Peridot said matter-of-factly.

“You just grabbed them at random and took off, didn’t you?” Amethyst asked.

“O-of course not!” Peridot protested, anger showing in her voice, as she started holding up books. “See, this, _this_ is the Camp Pining Hearts encyclopedia! And _this_ is Percy’s Scrapbook! And this… actually I don’t _know_ what this is.”

“See?” Amethyst said.

“No, no, I’m… I’m sure it will be important.” Peridot picked up another book. “Like this… _Canadian Al-man-ac_ ? Yeah. This is necessary. And… and this _cook-book_! And…” she held up a bound book with a gold hand on the cover, marked with a 3. “Actually, you may be correct about this one, I doubt it will be of any interest.”

“Hand me the journal.” Connie sighed, and Peridot tossed her Buddy’s Book, grunting as she started flipping through her books, certain there was a purpose in them.

“Okay, here’s the map Pearl drew up for him.” Connie announced, flipping the page open. “Where would everyone be most likely to go?”

“Well, Pearl was made to be a servant.” Amethyst hesitantly said, feeling bad about even mentioning such a thing, “So she’d probably go to somewhere where she could find someone to… someone to take orders from?”

“Perhaps the Sea Spire?” Peridot asked, looking over at the map.

“Um, that sunk.” Amethyst informed her.

“Ah, aphanite!” Peridot swore, glaring down at the paper. “What kind of a clod sunk _that_?”

“Maybe Lapis is there?” Connie suggested, quickly deciding to change the subject.

“Hmm. She does tend to go underwater, although if we follow the purpose of Lapis Lazulis…” Peridot considered.

“Let’s talk about Pearl.” Amethyst said. “The… she might have gone to the Pyramid Temple.”

“The what?” Peridot looked down at the map, and Connie helpfully flipped to a page about the temple. “Thank you. Hmm. I’ve never seen something like this.”

“It had a lot of murals of… of the war.” Amethyst said. “Although it also kinda got destroyed, Pearl might still try to go there.”

“Interesting. But I think our best chance would be to find Garnet first.” Peridot suggested.

“Um, okay.” Connie flipped back to the map. “Why?”

“Her future vision.” Peridot raised an eyebrow, obviously annoyed that Connie and Amethyst needed to ask. “While it can be… unpredictable, she would be able to figure out everyone else much better than us.”

“Then we have a problem.” Amethyst said. “Garnet wasn’t made for a purpose. Did she ever tell you-”

“How she first fused? Steven told me.” Peridot rolled her eyes. “Actually, he _sung_ it to me. He made an entire song for it.”

“Where… where would Steven go?” Connie asked.

“Well, there’s another thing.” Peridot said. “He may have a Rose Quartz Gem, but he is organic. Likely he would go to some form of arena, but if he was reset to his organic form, he may try to find other humans, meaning eventually he’d return to his town.”

“But he hasn’t.”

“Right, but we have no idea where exactly the Activator is.” Peridot said. “Amethyst clearly lost herself and I have no idea how your ‘geography’ works, so unless we can restore the memory of Garnet or Pearl we can’t find that, and we won’t be able to track Steven from there. So we go back to my original plan, of first finding Garnet. Where would Ruby and Sapphire both head?”

“Well, Sapphire was an aristocrat, right?” Connie asked.

“Yeah.” Amethyst nodded. “And Ruby was a soldier. Pretty much opposite ends of the spectrum.”

“Hmm.”

“You don’t think…” Connie thought. “You don’t think she unfused?”

“I heard four gems escape after the blast.” Peridot reminded her. “So unless there was a gem… a gem still _inside_ the Activator, they all made it out, and Garnet is likely still together.”

“Could there be a gem-”

“I doubt it. I would have noticed.” Peridot said. “They would have been going berserk, or would at least have responded to my calls for assistance. It is possible that Garnet is simply wandering, confused and unsure of her purpose.”

“Oh gosh.” Amethyst looked very upset. “She must… that must be _awful_ … on top of being scared and lost…”

“I suspect she might be near the Cloud Arena.” Peridot interrupted, glancing at Amethyst, trying to distract her. “Which, I presume, will be inaccessible except by Warp Pad. It’s not on this map, but if what Steven told me is correct, this would be a good place underneath it to search.” Peridot pointed to a general area.

“Oh, and it’s near a water source!” Connie said. “That’s a bonus!”

“Why?” Peridot asked.

“She needs water to survive.” Amethyst explained.

“She has several water bottles in her bag.”

“Yeah, but she might run out.”

Connie sighed and closed the book, slipping it into her bag. “We should probably get moving. We can look around a little before camping for the night.”

“Yes. We’ll find Garnet soon enough!” Peridot exclaimed, before attempting to carry her stack of books and toppling over.

“Do you… do you want me to carry those?” Connie asked.

“I… I will need a large piece of metal.” Peridot said, face-down on the ground, as Amethyst started to laugh.


	8. Crash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long hiatus. I had some serious stuff going on...

Chapter Eight

 

“Garnet!” Connie called. “ _ Garnet _ !”

“I don’t see her!” Amethyst called, having shapeshifted herself legs long enough to see over the trees. 

“She might be hidden. We have to keep looking.” Connie said. 

Amethyst shrunk back to her normal size, her breathing a little jagged. Shapeshifting was still proving to be extra tiring to her, something she was not used to. She gave a thumbs-up, though, smiling a little. “I’m fine!”

“I HATE THIS STUPID PLACE!” Peridot yelled, after crawling out of a very prickly bush, where she had fallen. “IT’S FULL OF TWIGS AND BUGS AND  _ MUD _ !” 

“Hmm.” Connie thought, before cracking a smile. “You know, Garnet  _ loves  _ fusions.”

“Oh, duh.” Amethyst said. “She was the first, all other fusions are pretty much her babies.”

“So,” Connie stifled a giggle, “If you two fused, maybe-”

Amethyst blushed a dark purple, and Peridot started to scream. 

“Calm down,” Connie burst into laughter, “It was a joke!”

Amethyst sighed, though Peridot continued to yell, blushing more than Amethyst had been and covering her eyes, flopping back into the bush. Amethyst started laughing, too, before pulling Peridot out. Peridot had finally stopped yelling, but still looked extremely uncomfortable. “Don’t  _ say  _ that!” Peridot chided, which did nothing to stop Connie’s laughter. 

“She was just tryin’ to lighten the mood.” Amethyst said. 

“Oh!” Peridot realized. “Oh, she was trying to…  _ lion  _ the mood!”

While Connie was confused, it obviously made Peridot and Amethyst laugh. She finally stopped, because she caught a glimpse of something over Amethyst’s shoulder. It was gone in an instant, but it had almost looked like… like a shadow. 

She paused, watching, but blinked and it disappeared. She didn’t want to upset Peridot and Amethyst, who were also starting to calm, so she said nothing, and instead glanced up at the sky. “It’s getting late. We better find a good place to sleep.”

“Good idea.” Amethyst nodded. “I thought I saw a good place from up there. We can go now.”

“What about Garnet?” Peridot asked. 

“We’re not giving up.” Amethyst assured her as they started to walk. “But Connie needs her sleep.” 

Peridot sighed. “Humans are so high-maintenance.”

 

Connie was awoken by footsteps. 

She slowly blinked sleep from her eyes and looked around. Amethyst had been teaching Peridot how to sleep when Connie had finally dozed off, and now the two were huddled together, peacefully snoozing. She heard more footsteps, approaching from… behind. Grabbing the flashlight she had stored under her pillow, she slowly turned, jumping when she saw behind her the Screaming Shadow. 

She was in the woods, watching from the trees, slowly edging closer. It was so dark out there, with the moon being new that night, and the only light source were the scattered stars and small fire, that, due to Peridot’s insistence at building it herself, was almost dead. Connie watched as the Shadow approached, staring at her. She couldn’t tell what she was, even as she got closer, the flicker of the fire only occasionally illuminating a quick shade, which was either blue or green, Connie couldn’t tell; and she couldn’t turn her flashlight on yet, she wanted to preserve the battery. As she approached, Connie started to crawl away, trying to reach her bag, only to find that it was gone. She whipped around, to see the Shadow drop her bag in front of her. 

Connie was at first confused, but then incredibly frustrated when the Shadow retreated, keeping herself in darkness so Connie couldn’t make her out. Connie looked up at her, afraid to say anything should she start screaming again. Instead, the Shadow dropped three things in front of her- three acorns? Rocks? It was hard to tell. The Shadow then dropped a water bottle next to them- one of Connie’s? Had she been digging through Connie’s bag? The human looked up at the Shadow, trying to make out a feature, but the shadow picked up a stick, pointing it back at the acorns. Connie looked down, and as she did, the Shadow swung her stick, knocking the bottle over. Water erupted from the top, washing the acorns away. Connie gasped, and looked up to ask more, only to see the Shadow walking away. 

“W-wait!” Connie called after a while, hesitating in case she startled the Shadow. She didn’t. The Shadow kept walking. She then took a deep breath and yelled, “A-Amethyst! Peridot!”

At her yell, Amethyst immediately woke, jumping to her feet. “Connie?” Peridot groaned and rolled over, still tired. 

Connie pointed, and looked to see that the Shadow had stopped, turning to look at Amethyst, before running. Connie tried to flicker her flashlight on, but only succeeded in dropping it. 

“Stop!” Amethyst yelled, summoning her whip and trying to catch the Shadow around the ankle, but the figure jumped over it, running into the woods. Amethyst turned to Connie, frustration in her eyes. “I’m going after her! Stay here!”

Connie numbly nodded and watched as Amethyst ran off, turning to look at Peridot, who had sat up and was now looking around for something metal to fight with. “Where did Amethyst go?” she asked once she found a broken fork. 

“After the Shadow.” Connie explained, slipping the flashlight into the pocket in her pants; she’d forgotten to change into sleepwear that night. 

Peridot sighed and went to sit by the human, playing with the fork and bending it to her will. “Figures. We probably won’t catch up to her now.”

They sat in silence for a while, watching the dying fire, before Peridot said, “I- I don’t remember much of the Activator’s blast, and I try not to, but there are things you need to know.”

Connie looked up, interested. “Why didn’t you-”

“Mention it before?” Peridot finished, keeping her eyes on her fork. “It’s hard, purposefully thinking back to that pure terror. But it’s… it’s also hard on Amethyst. You saw what happened, just  _ thinking  _ about it sent her into a panic attack. And…” she sighed. “First thing’s first. The Warning Cry the Shadow sent out, it… it sounded similar to the Activator. I’m not certain Amethyst was able to place the memory, but it still freaked her out, especially when she saw you had vanished.”

“Wha- what do you think that means?” Connie asked. 

“I…” Peridot shook her head. “That’s another thing. The Activator itself needs to be activated by something.”

“Well, okay.” Connie nodded, a sick feeling starting to spread in her stomach. “So what activates the Activator?”

Peridot took a deep breath, about to explain, when Amethyst tumbled out of the bushes and into the clearing, groaning. “She got away!” she yelled. “I almost had her but then she just  _ vanished _ !”

Peridot jerked her head towards Amethyst, her demeanor changing into unconcern. “Well, that’s why we call her the Shadow.”

“I thought we called her that because she hid in the shadows.” Connie said. 

“Nevertheless,” Peridot said, standing up, “I’m going to tinker with your communication device again, and try to see if Garnet is within the nearby perimeter. You should attempt sleep again, Connie. You haven’t slept much at all.”

“But what abou-” Connie protested, but Peridot shot her a look that said  _ shut up _ , and then started walking away. 

“Amethyst, it’s your turn to humansit.” Peridot called, before walking away. 

Amethyst huffed and took Peridot’s place beside Connie, looking down at her knees. “I almost had her.” she whispered. 

“It’s alright.” Connie said. “She’s… how do you think she found us?”

Amethyst looked up, realization dawning on her. “Yeah! We travelled by warp, like, a couple hundred miles. How’d she get here?”

“Maybe she’s using the warps, and was following us?” Connie asked. 

“Using the warps takes a really determined mind.” Amethyst said. “Meaning the Shadow can’t be corrupted, or… or hurt from the beam.”

“Unless they got over it, like you and Peridot.” Connie suggested. 

Amethyst let out a little snort, before frowning and looking down at the ground. “Who says we got over it?”

“Amethyst…”

“Shh.”

Connie started to get frustrated. “Amethyst, you need to-”

“No, shh.” Amethyst slammed a hand over Connie’s mouth, looking up ahead of her. 

Connie removed Amethyst’s hand, looking in the direction of Amethyst’s gaze. “What is it?”

Her eyes fell onto a figure in the trees, watching them. 

“Is that…”

Amethyst shook her head. “That’s not the shadow.”

She squinted to get a better view, her eyes widened from fear, and she jumped in front of Connie, pushing her farther away. “Connie! You’ve gotta run! Go, befo-”

At that, a jet of water hit her square in the chest, sending her flying at the trees behind her.

“Amethyst!” Connie yelled, whipping around, only to feel water circle her ankle and push her down. Connie kicked it away, turning around to see Lapis Lazuli leap in front of her, staring her down. 

Connie gasped and jumped back, but Lapis didn’t seem to care. She pushed her away with another burst of water, and turned to Amethyst. Without a work, or even a blink, Lapis ran at her, jets of water following her. 

Connie looked around, and caught sight of the river they’d camped by.  _ It had been a close water source _ , she thought,  _ We should’ve prepared in case this happened; where else would the Ocean Gem turn up? _

Amethyst spun, avoiding the water, summoning her whips. “We don’t have to fight!” she yelled, spinning away from Lapis’s attacks. 

Lapis simply followed her with her eyes, her streams of water swirling around the purple gem, dancing in and out of the whips. “You didn’t have to fight at all!” she yelled. “But no, this stupid planet was worth all those gems  _ shattered _ !”

Amethyst rolled out of the way of another attack, staring up at Lapis. “No, you’ve moved past this! Well, ish.”

“It’s because of you I’m stuck here!” Lapis yelled, spinning towards Amethyst, getting nearer to her and using her water as a shield from the whips, before dissolving it and using it to propel Amethyst across the clearing. “It’s thanks to you I can’t go home!”

“Stop!” Connie yelled, running forwards, grabbing her sword and attempting to swing at her.

Lapis simply stared at her before knocking her aside with a shot of water. The sword went flying, and Connie felt the water close in around her head, lifting her up into the air. 

Connie couldn’t breathe; she started kicking and trying to push herself out. Lapis walked towards her, her gaze uncaring. “So, they’ve got their humans fighting for them now, too?” she asked, looking up at the struggling girl. She then looked closely at Connie, almost as if a memory was starting to surface. 

“Leave her  _ alone _ !” Amethyst yelled, barrelling into Lapis and sending them both flying. This seemed to succeed, as the bubble holding Connie in the air popped, and the girl dropped to the floor, gasping and sputtering. “She’s a human! They can’t survive without air!”

Lapis summoned another burst of water from the river and sent it at her attacker, pinning her against the tree. She then turned back to Connie, surrounding her in water again. Connie held her breath, panicking and kicking, trying to free herself, as she could barely make out Amethyst’s yells. “She can’t survive underwater! Let her out! Let her  _ go _ !”

Suddenly, Connie could breathe. A bubble of air surrounded her head, through the rest of her body was still drenched in water, held up in the air. Lapis turned to her, eyes blank, any spark of recognition she might have had replaced with cold unconcern. “You care about this human?” she asked, directing her question behind her, at the purple gem. As she spoke, the water holding Amethyst against the tree turned to ice. 

“Lapis, whatever you’re thinking, just stop!” Amethyst called, panic rising. “We’re your friends, we don’t wanna hurt you!”

“ _ Friends _ ?” Lapis asked, turning back to Amethyst, who was trying to break through the ice. “You’re the  _ Crystal Gems _ .  _ You _ kept me trapped!  _ You’re _ the reason I’m even  _ here _ !”

Another wave of water collided with Amethyst. She coughed up the water, still trying to reason with the blue gem. “We didn’t know you were even alive! Steven let you out! Remember?”

At Steven’s name, Lapis jumped back, her eyes going wide. “How do you know that name?” she asked, horrified. “ _ How do you know that name? _ ”

“Steven let you out.” Amethyst said again, slowly losing energy as she kept trying to free herself from the ice. “Steven’s your friend, Lapis.”

Lapis thought. “Steven. That’s not a gem.”

Connie wanted to yell, to remind Lapis of what Steven had done for her, of how he’d convinced her to stay on Earth, but she was scared she’d waste the precious air held in the bubble around her, which was growing smaller by the second. 

“Steven’s a human.” Amethyst reminded her. “Half-human,  _ half-human _ ! You  _ have _ to remember!”

Lapis paused, thinking, before slowly turning to face Connie. The water around her once again dropped, and Connie fell to the ground, water splashing off of her and once again filling her lungs. She managed to sit herself up as she coughed, and looked up to see Lapis, who had flown closer, and was now staring at her with a cold curiosity, a bleak spark in her eye that might have been… hope?

“ _ Steven _ ?”

Connie’s eyes widened as Lapis said that.  _ No, she wasn’t Steven! Steven was lost, Steven was in trouble! You can help us find him! _ As she tried to explain to Lapis, though, she found that she  _ couldn’t.  _ She was still struggling to cough out the water, and Lapis’s stare were starting to scare her, her body shaking with both a natural chill and a blind terror. Her sword had fallen against the ground, far away. She couldn’t reach it. She was defenseless. 

“ _ No _ !” Amethyst yelled, fear bubbling over her frustration. “ _ No! No! Leave her alone! _ ”

Lapis barely blinked as the water droplets left the ground and formed into another wave, surrounding Amethyst’s head and enveloping that in ice. Amethyst couldn’t move, staring ahead as Lapis moved closer to the human girl. “Steven?” she asked again, and Connie once again couldn’t make her mouth move. “Who  _ are  _ you?”

_ Connie!  _ she wanted to scream.  _ I’m not Steven! I could never  _ be  _ him! _

Suddenly, the bushes around them rustled, and Peridot came through, tinkering with Connie’s walkie-talkie. “Hey, guys, I think I can make your crude human technology work again! Maybe we can contact-” She looked up to see the scene in front of her, and immediately dropped the toy in shock. “ _ Lapis? _ ”

“ _ You _ ?” Lapis seemed to recognize the green gem, panic rising in her voice. 

“Lapis…” Peridot looked around at the scene in front of her. “Lapis, what’s going on?”

Lapis shook her head. “No, you’re not real!  _ None of this is real _ !”

She turned and grabbed Connie by the arm, before spreading her wings and taking off into the sky. The ice around Amethyst melted, sending her sprawling to the ground. The gems looked up and yelled for them as Lapis dragged Connie through the sky. Connie could barely move, frozen in the fear that Lapis would drop her. 

Suddenly, a metal rod came flying at them, piercing Lapis’s water wings. Their flight disrupted, Lapis fell, releasing Connie’s arm as she did. Connie let out a yell as she fell through the trees, her skin pierced by the branches and twigs that she broke through. She finally collapsed onto ground, her vision blurring and her body screaming in pain. Blackness started swirling in her vision as she saw the blue gem land in front of her, arms spread, preparing once again to fight. 

Then she passed out. 


	9. Figures Dancing Gracefully

Chapter Nine

 

Connie awoke, gasping, on a cold, damp, dark floor. 

She sat up, trying to adjust her eyes to the dim light. In fact, it was almost pitch-black. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her flashlight, flipping it on and trying to look around. Strangely, the flashlight didn’t seem to help, only illuminating deep brown walls and small trickles of water. 

Connie started to walk, stumbling over her feet. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was… was Lapis. And falling. 

Connie knew Lapis about as well as she knew Peridot, maybe even less. Lapis had tried to drown her when they first met, too; maybe it was just her go-to introduction. Where was-

“You’re awake.” 

Connie almost dropped her flashlight, turning around to illuminate Lapis sitting against a wall, staring at her. She blinked in the sudden light, adjusting her eyes. “What’s that?” she asked. 

Connie wanted to start asking questions, but she figured the best thing was to  _ not  _ make her mad. “I-it’s a flashlight, so I can see in the dark.”

“Oh. I can do that.” Lapis said, standing up and turning around, lighting up her gem and sending a beam at Connie’s feet. 

“Um, cool.” Connie said. After another second of silence, she asked, “Where are we?”

“Underwater.” Lapis replied, turning back around. 

“Underwater?” Connie asked. “How can I-”

“Inhale air?” Lapis inquired. “I have the cave blocked off, mostly. For some reason I don’t like the water as much as I used to.”

Connie looked around, at the small streams of water around her feet. She guessed those were leaks, so she didn’t say much. 

“Who are you?” Lapis asked, and Connie suddenly remembered her situation. 

“I…” Connie swallowed, knowing the truth would come out sooner or later, and she might as well be honest. “I’m not Steven.”

There was a pause, before Lapis let out a groan and slapped her forehead. “Of course. Of course I assumed the first  _ stupid  _ human I saw would be…” she trailed off, looking around her cavern. “It doesn’t matter. I was stupid to assume she’d even exist.”

“She?” Connie asked, blinking. “Steven’s a boy.”

Lapis paused. “What’s a boy?”

“Well, it’s…” Connie wasn’t sure how to explain. The concept of gender was, as far as she could tell, relative only to humans. “It’s a human, but they use different pronouns than girls, which are she/her.”

“Why?”

“Because… they feel like it?” That was a  _ really _ bad way to explain. “They tend to feel more like a boy than a girl, which is the “her”, or something inbetween, which is usually “they”, though there are…”

“Humans are so confusing.” Lapis interrupted. “So Steven is a…  _ boy _ ?”

“Yeah,” Connie nodded, happy Lapis seemed to be getting it. “He’s a half-human boy.”

“Half?”

“Um, yeah his Mom was a… was a gem.”

“A Crystal Gem?”

“Y-yes?”

Lapis sighed. “So  _ he’s _ the enemy. Great.”

“No, Steven’s not the enemy.” Connie protested. “He let you out! He’s your friend.”

“That’s what the Amethyst said.” Lapis snorted. “But I was watching you from the ruins of the Cloud Arena- you destroyed it, I assume? You were calling for the fusion, not to mention your lack of a uniform- you are definitely Crystal Gems. What, did the fusion run off?”

“Yeah, you did too.” Connie said, trying to approach Lapis, only to step into a stream. The water formed around her feet, into a small figure.

“Peridot?”

It was definitely a water Peridot, though all it did was stare at her. 

“So that’s what she is.” Lapis nodded. “I’ve never seen one of those before, are they new?”

“I… I don’t know?” Connie said. “Peridot’s your friend too.”

“So then why was she with you?”

Connie realized she wasn’t getting anywhere; she better backtrack to the beginning. “Lapis, what do you remember?”

“I…” Lapis paused, thinking. “I remember the mirror… I was there for  _ so long _ , and then the Renegade Pearl picked me up… and… and I remember being trapped, everywhere I went, just this feeling of… I remember that I can’t go home, I remember…” 

Lapis trailed off, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, her pupils were gone, her eyes only mirrors. She stood, and around Connie, water started to rise. She backed up against a wall, shining her light to see the water circle Lapis, swirling around her before spreading in the small cave. They started to take forms- forms Connie had never seen, but she could only assume they were gems. They started to move, swirling around each other, twirling, sometimes exchanging droplets, forming together into a bigger gem, splitting into two, but in a deep pattern. Connie finally caught sight of Lapis, who was dancing inbetween the water, barely avoiding brushing against them, spinning around in a delicate precision, almost but not quite disturbing the water around her. A larger gem formed in front of Lapis, a long splash making the impression of longer hair, and the two danced around each other, mirroring each other, almost touching. Then the gem turned, replaced with another, and Lapis spun with that. Lapis spun between the gems, who were now less dancing and more gliding across the floor, circling Lapis, who was the center of the dance. As Connie watched, she started to notice the spinning grow more intense, more fast. Small droplets started to hit her, and she flinched as they grew more frequent. The water gems were spinning away their own being, dancing as intensely as Lapis. They now circled her, surrounding her, as she spun in place, extending her wings, flying above them. They joined her in the air, still circling, growing bigger by the minute. Connie watched from the ground, her flashlight filtering through the water gems and creating spots in the cave ceiling, spots that all centered around Lapis’s shadow, as the water closed around her, so Connie could only see her through the water distortion, growing blurrier by the second. 

Suddenly, everything stopped. Lapis paused in the air and threw out her hands, her wings only slowly flapping, as the water gems paused mid-air. Suddenly, they all sunk to the ground, reforming the streams of water, but this time, they all flowed to the center, where a small form emerged. As Lapis dropped to the ground, her mirrored eyes staring ahead, the form in the center emerged, as Steven. 

Connie let out a small gasp, and Lapis approached the water form carefully, slowly placing a hand in front of it, as if she wanted to touch it but didn’t dare. Suddenly, the Steven rippled and broke, splattering onto the ground into a puzzle. Lapis blinked, and her mirror eyes were gone, her pupils gazing at the place Steven had been. 

She paused, before turning back to Connie. “ _ That  _ is what I remember.”

Connie paused, breathing deeply, trying to process what Lapis had just showed her. 

Lapis then turned to Connie, and pointed to the puddle that had been Steven. “Was that…”

Connie nodded. “That was him.”

Lapis sighed and sat down, hugging her knees. Connie slowly approached, sitting beside the blue gem. 

“Are you sure you’re not him?” Lapis asked, sounding almost hopeless. 

Connie shook her head. “We… we did share a body at one point, but no, I’m Connie.”

Lapis looked up at her. “You fused?”

Connie nodded. “Yeah, into Stevonnie. Since Steven’s half-human, he can fuse with humans… have you ever fused?”

Lapis sighed, looking down at the dark ground. “I… I- I have?”

That’s when Connie remembered Malachite, and silently chided herself for bringing it up. “Do… do you know anything about Steven?”

“I don’t know.” Lapis admitted. “I remember the mirror, and then bam, I’m flying as far as I can from… from  _ something.  _ I at first go to water, but then it scares me and I don’t know why, and then I came here, and all I remembered was the name.  _ Steven. _ I think… I think he’s in trouble. And I can’t do  _ anything _ !” She paused, before saying, “I also remembered her.” she formed the Water Peridot. “Not much, but just having the image of her around seemed to be… a comfort, I guess…” She then turned to Connie. “Who were they?”

“Well, Peridot lives with you at the barn.” Connie explained. “You both kinda live there now, because you can’t go home. Steven said you two like to make ar- meepmorps, which is like a song, but with things instead of words.”

“Oh.” Lapis considered, as if trying to find some fault with what Connie was saying. The water Peridot slowly melted, and Lapis asked, “And… and Steven?”

“He…” Connie looked carefully at her. “He let you out of the mirror. He convinced you to stay. He… he healed your gem.”

At first, Lapis simply blinked at her. Then, her eyes narrowed, and she stared down at her hands. “My… Yeah, my gem was _cracked_ …” She moved her hand to her gemstone, running her fingers across it. “It _was_ _cracked_ …”

“Yeah,” Connie explained slowly, “And Steven healed it.”

“Steven… healed my gem?” Lapis turned to Connie, staring at her carefully. 

“Yeah.”

“But… but there’s only one gem who’s ever even been _rumored_ to have healing powers…”

“Yeah.” Connie started to get nervous- how exactly would Lapis take the news? “Steven’s mom.”

“Rose Quartz?”

Connie paused. “Yeah. She died to create him, and he got most of her powers.”

Lapis seemed shocked. “And sh-  _ he  _ helped me?”

“Well, of course. Steven helps everyone.”

“Are you… are you sure he’s a Crystal Gem?”

“Definitely.”

Lapis looked down at her feet, avoiding Connie’s gaze. “Steven… Steven helped me.”

Connie stayed silent as Lapis processed this. She then looked back at Connie. “Where is he?”

Connie sighed. “We don’t know. He disappeared the same time everyone else did.”

“Of course. But… the Crystal Gems are trying to find him?”

Connie nodded. 

Lapis sighed. “Grab on.”

“What?”

Lapis stood up, holding out her arm. “Grab on.”

Connie slowly stood, turning her flashlight off and sticking it in her pocket. She grabbed onto Lapis’s arm, trying to adjust to the darkness. Her ears started picking up sounds, like her own breathing, and the trickle of water. 

The trickle that was growing louder. 

She suddenly realized what was happening, and managed to take in a deep breath before water came crashing in around her and the Ocean Gem, quickly filling up the cave. Connie then found that Lapis had already surrounded them in a circle of air, letting the water crash around and above them. Lapis then turned, picking up the human, putting her on her back and flying into the air. Connie looked down to see what looked like a large rock rushing by where they’d been standing. The bubble of air followed the two, as Lapis started to fly, dodging large rocks Connie inferred had been used to trap them in. Though Connie couldn’t see much, Lapis’s gem had started to glow slightly, illuminating a little space, slightly larger than the bubble they flew in. Connie watched the water surge around them as Lapis kept going, spinning through the waves. Then, suddenly, light filled Connie’s vision, as they burst out of the underwater cave. Connie adjusted to the sudden light, as Lapis started flying up, pushing herself through the bubble of air that was starting to close in. She flapped, and Connie grabbed around her as she burst out into the air, the sun shining brightly on the two as water splashed at them. Lapis flew higher, and Connie glanced down to see that they’d just flown out of a large lake, with several rivers leading into it, surrounded by a forest. Lapis surveyed the woods, before closing in on an area and flying towards it, losing altitude as she did so. Connie held on as Lapis burst through the treetops, landing carefully on her feet. Connie muttered a “Thank You” and slid off of Lapis’s back, before looking and seeing why they landed where they did. 

“Connie!” Amethyst yelled, dropping her whips and running forward, pulling her into a hug. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!  _ I’m so sorry _ ! Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine, Amethyst.” Connie said, still a little winded from the flight. 

“Are you sure? You got knocked out.” Amethyst looked incredibly worried. “Do you need some of the healing tears?”

“It’s really okay.” Connie said. “Lapis took care of me.”

Amethyst then seemed to register the other gem’s presence, turning around. Connie saw, over the purple gem’s shoulder, Peridot, holding several forks in her hand and staring up at Lapis, who was looking curiously at Amethyst and Connie. 

“Um, Lapis?” Amethyst finally said. “Do you-”

“You’re going to find Steven?” Lapis asked. 

Amethyst blinked. “Uh, yeah.”

“Good.” Lapis said. “Where do we start?”


	10. Cloud Arena

Chapter Ten

 

“Are you sure we can trust her?”

Connie looked over at Lapis, who was sitting by the fire, as if entranced by it. “I think so. She really does care about Steven.”

“Yeah, but she’s reverted back to what she was before she met ‘im.” Amethyst shrugged. “She might not be… the most friendly right now.”

“I kinda figured that out.” Connie sighed. “But I don’t think she’s angry. I think she’s… she’s  _ lost _ . All she remembers is she’s stuck here, she can’t go back to Homeworld, and she doesn’t know what to do.”

“It must be hard.” Amethyst admitted, glancing to the ground. “I only lost partial memory, but I know how frustrating and scary everything was. It must be that, but to the extreme. Lapis lost  _ months _ …”

“I’m actually surprised she didn’t lose more.” Connie said. “Didn’t Peridot say… Peridot?”

She and Amethyst looked to see that the green gem, who had been sitting nearby them, had left. They turned, only to see she had circled around the fire and was now approaching Lapis. 

“Peridot!” Amethyst whispered. “What are you doing?”

Lapis had made it clear she didn’t necessarily want to talk, but Peridot simply gave them a glance before walking more towards the blue gem, who looked up at her, her blank face masking any emotions she might have had. “So,” she began, “I don’t remember any Peridots.”

“We’re relatively new.” Peridot said, a hint of pride in her voice as she sat beside Lapis. “Pretty rare.”

“Really?”

“Well, in a way. We… there are a lot of us, but it’s hard to make new ones.”

“Oh.”

They sat in silence for a while. Connie and Amethyst looked to each other, wondering if they should approach, but something more than awkward small talk was in the air. They clearly wanted to say more, but were wondering when. Wondering if they should. 

Finally, Peridot turned to Lapis, nervousness in her tone. “You… you don’t remember me, do you?”

Lapis considered, tracing the dirt with her finger. “I… I remember feelings. I remember you made me feel… made me feel safe. Something I haven’t felt in a long time.”

She paused, waiting for Peridot to say something. Connie half-expected Peridot to start talking; normally they couldn’t get her to shut up. But now, Peridot seemed to have run out of words. 

Lapis then spoke again. “Who  _ are  _ you?”

“Well,” Peridot thought. “I suppose our original introduction wasn’t quite satisfactory. We didn’t make very good first impressions on each other.” She then held out her hand. “Peridot. Former Homeworld Technician, now Crystal Gem.”

Lapis hesitated. The words  _ Crystal Gem _ still didn’t make her entirely comfortable, and Peridot seemed to catch on to this, babbling a little. “Oh, uh, this is a human ritual of greeting. We grab hands and move them up and down to symbolize our introduction.”

The blue gem looked at her curiously, then grabbed her hand. “I’m Lapis Lazuli.”

Peridot beamed, even after they’d dropped hands. Lapis then asked, “So, the human said that we live in a…  _ barn _ ?”

“Yes,” Peridot said. “We make meepmorps there.”

“So, am I a Crystal Gem now?”

Peridot thought. “I don’t think we officially inducted you yet.”

“What, is there a ceremony?”

“Um, if it involves calling Yellow Diamond a clod… to her face…”

“You did  _ what _ ?” Lapis seemed more amused than angry. 

“Well, it seemed appropriate… at the time…”

As they talked, Connie looked back to Amethyst. “At least she’s happy now.”

Amethyst nodded. “Yeah. Let’s just make sure she doesn’t get mad at us again.” She paused. “Connie, if you…”

Connie had known this was coming. “You’re not sending me back, Amethyst.”

“You got hurt.” Amethyst said. “And it was my fault. Lapis could’ve easily killed you because she doesn’t know how humans work. Heck, the Shadow could’ve ended up killing you somehow. And… and if I can’t protect  _ Steven _ …”

“Steven doesn’t need protecting.” Connie interrupted, looking up at the sky. “And neither do I. I knew what the risks were when I came along, and I’m staying until we’ve found everyone and they’re back where they belong.”

Amethyst sighed, looking up at the stars with her. “I figured you’d say that. It’s exactly what Steven would have said.”

 

Connie blinked her eyes open, as the sun filtered in. She gathered her surroundings and sat up, yawning. She then turned around and jumped back, as Lapis was sitting right next to her, staring. “L-Lapis!” Connie yelped, looking surprised. “W-what are you doing?”

“The tiny Amethyst said I needed to keep an eye on you while she and Peridot hunted shadows.” Lapis stated. 

“Well, I- I don’t think they meant  _ this _ closely.” Connie said, digging through her bag to find her swordfighting outfit, which was probably the most practical of her clothes for wandering through the woods. “Can you turn around a second?”

“Why?” Lapis blinked. 

“I’m going to change my clothes really quick.”

Lapis paused. “Okay. Don’t try to attack me or run off, though, because you won’t get very far.”

“Duly noted.” Connie said, as she started to put her outfit on. “Now, where are Amethyst and Peridot again?”

“Hunting shadows. It sounded stupid so I said I’d stay here.” Lapis explained. 

“Hunting shadows?” Connie asked, before she realized. “Oh! Oh, no, they’re not hunting shadows, they’re looking for the Shadow.”

“There’s a difference?” Lapis asked. 

“Um, a little. You can turn around now.” Connie said, tossing her hair back and digging through her bag for the water bottle Peridot had stored the Healing Tears in- she’d found that even a dash kept her hair clean, which was a major relief, because she was pretty sure she hadn’t packed shampoo. “See, the Shadow is just what we call this… we’re  _ pretty _ sure she’s a gem, because she had the warning cry.”

“Oh, that?” Lapis snorted, turning around to face Connie. “We stopped doing that  _ ages  _ ago. Too animalistic.”

“Oh.” Connie wasn’t entirely sure what to do with that information. “W-well, she showed up right before you did, so I guess Amethyst and Peridot think she might still be in the area?”

“She showed up before me?” Lapis asked. “I didn’t even see her.”

“Well, that’s kinda the thing. She knows exactly how to stay out of sight. She came right before you and did this weird thing where she knocked my water bottle onto some rocks, and…”

Lapis looked up as Connie trailed off. “What?”

“It was a warning.” Connie said, her eyes distant, staring down at the bottle of Rose’s tears, that Peridot had marked by sticking a flower petal to the side. “She was warning us that you were coming.”

“What?” Lapis seemed confused as Connie shoved the bottle back in her bag, and hooked Rose’s sword around her body. 

“She knocked the water onto the rocks… she knew you were coming, it was her way of warning us…” Connie babbled, “She must have seen you.”

“How?” Lapis asked. “I didn’t see any Shadow. And I was trying to be careful, I don't know how she could have seen me.”

“Unless…” Connie thought, then said aloud, “Unless she knew what was going to happen…”

“You mean, like, future vision?” Lapis scoffed. “Sapphires are the only gems to have that. I think you would know if-”

“Hold on!” Connie said, trying to think. “Steven told me about how Ruby and Sapphire met a while ago, and Amethyst said they fell from the Cloud Arena. So where else would Garnet go?”

“A Garnet?” Lapis asked, before she realized. “Oh. The Fusion.”

“Lapis, if you fell from the edge of the Cloud Arena, where would that be?” Connie asked. 

“I can take you, but I don’t think they wanted us to leave. And I don’t feel like going anywhere near the fusion.” Lapis paused. “However, it would probably tick off the Crystal Gems. And that  _ would _ be fun...”

“So, can you take me?” Connie asked. 

Lapis eyed her sword carefully, but after apparently deciding that Connie wasn’t going to attack her with it, she turned around. “Get on. We’re gonna go flying.”

 

“This is so cool!”

Lapis smirked as Connie, holding onto Lapis’s hands, kicked at the clouds. 

“Is it?” Lapis quipped. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Flying felt so freeing, especially after all the stress Connie had been under the last few days. She was up in the air, reasonably safe, and able to experience things most other humans would never see. Connie wondered if Lapis had ever taken Steven flying. 

“The Arena’s up here.” Lapis said, looking ahead to a dark blob behind the clouds. “We’re gonna go through the cloud.”

“Um, okay?” Connie said, as she was pushed through the cloud. It felt cold, and definitely a little wet, though not enough to soak her too much. She coughed as they emerged, and let out a giggle. “That was weird.”

“It’s a lot more fun when they’re more of them.” Lapis said. “And I bet the gray ones that make loud noises are even more fun.”

“Um, maybe don’t do that with me?” Connie suggested, as they approached the Arena. It looked similar to the Sky Arena, but was a lot more busted up. “What happened here?”

“If I had a guess, you.” Lapis said, landing towards the edge and looking around. “Who else would attack a diplomatic base?”

“I don’t think…” Connie paused, looking around the Arena and trying to scout the area. “Nevermind. If Ruby and Sapphire were here… or maybe they were  _ here _ … or…”

“Hold on, kid.” Lapis said, walking behind Connie and putting a hand on her shoulder, before shutting her eyes, and opening them as mirrors again. 

“Lapis?” Connie asked, before realizing what was happening. The water droplets that made up the clouds around them started to filter through, the clouds disappearing as water formed around them. Lapis moved away from Connie, standing in one place and looking towards the ground. The droplets came around her, starting to form shapes- vagues shapes of gems again, but Connie noticed one form towards the center most of all- a giant form, maybe ten times her size, sitting still in a water palanquin, a smaller form beside her. Connie could make out a water gemstone on the larger gem’s chest, in the shape of a diamond. 

Blue Diamond. 

Connie then stepped to the side, as a water shape formed next to her, approaching Blue Diamond, then going to stand by other forms. Suddenly, the forms started scattering as two more water gems appeared. Connie thought one of them might be Pearl- she had the forehead gem- but couldn’t tell who the other was supposed to be. Several forms disappeared, their droplets scattering back into the sky. The Water Pearl approached one form, but it was knocked aside by a second form. They formed a much bigger Water Form- Garnet! Which split almost immediately. The two water forms who’d attacked disappeared, and Blue Diamond approached the split forms, which Connie recognized now as Ruby and Sapphire- she’d seen them only during her and Garnet’s mind exercises, but she recognized her now. She watched as then, the other water gems scattered into the sky, becoming clouds again, and Water Sapphire grabbed Water Ruby and started to run. 

“This way!” Lapis said, running towards her and grabbing her arm, her eyes still mirrored, as she stared to pull Connie towards Water Ruby and Sapphire. The Water Gems jumped, and Lapis followed, using her wings to slow her descent. The two water gems then merged into Garnet as they fell, and Connie watched as it then splashed onto the ground. Lapis landed beside it, looking around. “Alright. This is where they would have landed.”

“You were there?” Connie asked, a little curious. 

Lapis nodded. “When the Fusion happened? It’s hard to forget. None of us went after her, we were all a bit intimidated. A fusion of two different gems? Who knew what she could even do? Blue Diamond was furious, she thought that her Sapphire had been attacked by the Ruby, but what could she do? Go straight into enemy territory?” Lapis sighed, looking off towards the sun. “So the Crystal Gems ended up with a freak fusion with future vision.”

“No,” Connie said quietly, “We got Garnet.”

She paused, before turning around. “There’s got to be a shelter around here somewhere.”

Lapis started looking around, before gesturing behind her. “Maybe over there?”

Connie turned to see a cave behind them, the entrance dark, a slight chill coming from it. “I’m going in.” Connie said. “If Garnet’s in there, maybe she’ll remember me.”

“I don’t really want to meet the Fusion if she’s not in her best mental state.” Lapis said. “I can wait out here, and come in if I hear fighting.”

“Right.” Connie nodded. “I’m going to have to go in, but if she hears me coming, she might get scared away…”

“I’ll just throw you in.” Lapis offered. 

“What?” Connie asked, as Lapis picked her up and tossed her towards the cave entrance. 

Well, that was one way to do it. 

Connie flew through the air, spinning in order to roll when she landed. But when she did land, the ground wasn’t rock like she expected. Instead, she slid across the floor, ramming herself onto a wall. Freezing cold suddenly coursed across her skin, shocking her into stillness. She stayed frozen for a while, wondering for a second if maybe she’d  _ actually  _ been frozen, but soon found she could move, though something in her leg was starting to hurt whenever she tried to make it do anything. She looked down, and stared in horror. Beneath her was a thick, sharp sheet of ice, apparently self-lit. It rose up the walls, frost accompanying it, rising every now and again. Connie wasn’t exactly an expert on Gem Powers, but she knew what this  _ meant _ , and it chilled her more than the ice ever could. 

Slowly, she turned towards the center of the cave. Floating, still and silent, above the sheet of ice she was creating with her mind alone, was Sapphire. 


	11. Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know I haven't updated in like 5 months but... yeah I have no excuse. I was going through some Depression stuff and didn't have motivation. But with the new SU episodes I think I'm motivated again! So basically I think I have a timeline for this series now: It's sometime inbetween "The New Crystal Gems" and "Are You My Dad?" (Because Lapis and Peridot know Connie but Connie hasn't met any Homeworld Gems yet) I guess this could also qualify as an AU but I like trying to make things canon compliant.
> 
> Anyway, uh, if you forgot, last chapter Connie and Lapis found Sapphire. Yay!

Chapter Eleven

 

No. 

No, no, no, no,  _ no _ . 

Connie’s mind went from barely accepting what was happening to thinking a mile a minute in less than a second. 

_ No, Sapphire can’t be here. Garnet has to be here. Peridot said she heard four gems escape, including Lapis. If they split… Maybe they split after? But then where’s Ruby? Wouldn’t she have done something about the ice? If Peridot heard Ruby and Sapphire and one other gem escape, then who hadn’t managed to get out? Had they been  _ shattered _? No, no they couldn’t have been. Maybe Peridot was wrong. Sapphire could float after all. Maybe she hadn’t heard Sapphire fly away. But wait, if Garnet was split, how could she have warned Connie about Lapis? Was she the Shadow? Was Ruby hiding somewhere? Sapphire was too short to be the Shadow, so was it really a corrupted Gem? Or Pearl, or had Steven shapeshifted? Had another gem shapeshifted? How had it been able to follow them? _

“Stand up.” the cold words broke Connie’s train of thought, as she looked up at Sapphire, who didn’t even face her. 

“I can’t.” Connie managed to say. “It’s ice.”

“So?” Pause. “Oh, right.”

An ice stalagmite rose beside her, taller than her head, in almost a second. “Grab that to steady yourself.”

“Uh, thanks?” Connie said, slowly getting to her feet, shivering as she felt the cold stalagmite with her bare hands. “Wh-where’s Ruby?”

“Which Ruby?”

Oh no. This was bad. This was bad…

“Your Ruby.”

“I don’t know.” Sapphire said, saying it as though she was being forced to tell her mortal enemy was right about something. “Something tampered with my future vision. I can see only a few seconds ahead, anything past that is… is  _ changeable. _ ”

“Th-that’s what Garnet sees.” Connie stammered, the cold starting to get to her. 

“What’s a Garnet?”

Connie shook. “G-Garnet! Sapphire, h-how much do you remember?”

“Why? What does a human know?”

“We-well, we’ll see when you tell me how much you remember.”

Sapphire sighed. “Well played, human girl. I suppose you can’t use this against me anyway. Your sword can’t hurt me, either, as you’d slide across the ice faster than you could swing it.” Connie had forgotten she even had that with her. “I came out of my Kindergarten, and there were gems there. I knew my purpose, I was sent to Blue Diamond. That’s where I’ve left off. And now my future vision is  _ unpredictable _ .”

“So, you don’t remember Ruby?” Connie said, her voice breaking. “Or Garnet?”

“There were a couple of Ruby escorts.” Sapphire thought, “But I never met a Garnet. There was some sort of blast, and I came here. I believe my ship was intercepted.”

“N-no, that’s not what h-happened!” Connie said. How was she supposed to make her remember?

“Connie!” Lapis’s voice called, and both Connie and Sapphire turned towards the mouth of the cave. “The Crystal Gems are here and they’re being very rude.”

“ _ Connie, you were supposed to stay at the camp _ !” Amethyst yelled. “What are you  _ doing _ ?”

“H-how was I supposed to know?” Connie called back. “You just di-ditched me in the middle of the night! And I was looking for… I-I found…”

“Are you  _ sick _ ?” Amethyst asked, sounding incredibly upset.

Connie looked to Sapphire, who looked mad at herself for not seeing these gems approaching. “Y-you might want to come in here.”

“Yeah, I will!” Amethyst yelled, before Connie heard her walk in and slip on the ice, sliding forward. She came into view, then jumped to her feet, shapeshifting them into ice skates, and spinning around to where Connie was. She took in her surroundings, and her eyes locked on Sapphire. She paused, before saying a word Connie definitely wouldn’t be allowed to repeat. 

“Are you an Amethyst?” Sapphire asked. “You’re a lot smaller than I imagined.”

“Most people say that.” Amethyst quipped, glaring around the cave. “Where’s Ruby?”

“Why do you all want to find this Ruby?” Sapphire asked. “I believe my escorts’ forms were dissipated when the blast happened.”

“No, they weren’t!” Amethyst yelled, frustration bubbling. “We’re looking for  _ your  _ Ruby!”

“Do I have a personal Ruby?” Sapphire asked, her monotone slightly tilting towards confusion. 

“No, she’s your…” Amethyst struggled to find the words. “Uh…”

“Partner?” Connie suggested. 

“Nevermind, we’re going to have to get you out of here.” Amethyst sighed. “We’ve gotta find Ruby, maybe you can jog each others’ memories.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Sapphire stated. “My instructions were to go to Homeworld and await orders from Blue Diamond. I can’t get to Homeworld, so I am waiting here.”

“Well, that sucks.” Amethyst shapeshifted her arm to extend and grab Sapphire around the waist, before grabbing Connie with her other hand and skating down the cave floor. Sapphire let out a displeased noise as Amethyst dragged them into the light of day. 

“ _ What the heck is that _ ?” Peridot asked, pointing to Sapphire, who Amethyst slowly released. 

“Peri, you remember Sapphire?” Amethyst asked. “She saved your butt in game of baseball?”

“Didn’t do a very good job,” Peridot muttered. 

“What’s baseball?” Sapphire asked. 

Peridot sighed. “Ugh, of course.”

“How come L-Lapis has more memories than Sapphire?” Connie asked, still shivering from the cold. 

“Garnet was presumably closer to the blast.” Peridot said. “I believe that Lapis may have been the farthest away, aside from Amethyst and myself, not wanting to engage the object at all. Garnet, Pearl and Steven were closer, so their memories were the most tampered with.”

“What does a Garnet have to do with anything?” Sapphire asked, still in a huff but apparently not bothered enough to try and escape the group. 

“Wow, you don’t even remember  _ that _ ?” Lapis rolled her eyes. “You’re  _ really _ screwed.”

“I-it’s okay though!” Connie stammered. “We’ll be able to get your memory back, Sapphire?”

“I’m missing parts of memory?” Sapphire asked. 

“Yeah!” Connie said. “I mean, um…”

“Your dress.” Amethyst said, gesturing to the gown Sapphire wore. “It’s different, isn’t it?”

Sapphire looked down to her clothing, surprised a little. “Yes, I suppose it is. Where is my Diamond Symbol?”

“You ditched it.” Amethyst said, tapping her foot. “First thing’s first, where do we find Ruby?” 

“I don’t know, we’ve got the book back at camp!” Peridot groaned.

“What book?” Lapis asked, confused.

“What  _ is _ a book?” Sapphire inquired.

“Nevermind, let’s get back to the camp, then.” Amethyst sighed. “Peridot, do you remember where it is?”

“Uh...” Peridot trailed off, her mind elsewhere.

“Is it the one with the dead fire and big bag?” Sapphire asked.

“Yeah!” Amethyst looked up. “You see it in your Future Vision?”

Sapphire looked annoyed. “A little. Something is interfering with it, but I’m pretty sure if we get to it before sunset it  _ won’t _ be destroyed by gray Earth animals.”

“Ugh, can you get us there?” Amethyst asked.

“Depends.” Sapphire considered. “How do I know you won’t shatter me once you have no use for me?”

“Because you’re our friend!” Connie said, surprised.

“Hmm. You seem to think so.” Sapphire said. “I’m still not completely sure who you even are, but a future where you shatter me seems very unlikely, at least from what I can find…” 

“Great, let’s go.” Amethyst sighed.

“But, where is my Diamond?” Sapphire added.

“Um, she left. A long time ago.” Amethyst sighed, pushing Sapphire forwards.

Sapphire sighed and started walking towards the direction the camp was in. Lapis shot Amethyst an unseen glare before following, crossing her arms and muttering to herself. Connie walked behind her, surprised to see Peridot fall into step with her.

“Hey, Constance!” Peridot yelled, as if Connie was a half mile away from her instead of two inches.

“Ahh, don’t yell so loud!” Connie said, covering her ears almost on instinct.

“Yikes,  _ sorry _ .” Peridot groaned. “Your human ears are far too sensitive.”

“So,” Connie whispered, as Lapis shot her a glare before turning back around. “What is it?”

“It’s… Garnet split.” Peridot said, her voice dropping from a haughty indifference to a quiet worry. “And, if she split, and only four gems escaped…”

“Sapphire floats.” Connie interrupted, “She probably just flew away like Lapis.”

“Only Lapis flew...” Peridot began.

“No, no, you just might not have heard right.” Connie shook her head. “Your head was messed with, you were upset, you were panicked, you might have…”

“Do you think I  _ want _ to be right?” Peridot asked.

Connie gave her a look.

“About this. Obviously about this specifically.” Peridot sighed. “Listen, I want to find the Gems just as much as you. But…”

“Is this correct?” Sapphire asked, arms crossed, as they stopped.

“Yeah.” Amethyst nodded. “Thanks, Sapphire.”

Sapphire sighed and sat on top of Connie’s bag, hands clasped together, looking very annoyed as she tried to glimpse the future.

“So, where to, chief?” Amethyst asked, looking questioningly at Peridot and Connie, the latter of which shook her head and dug Buddy’s journal out of Peridot’s pile of books. 

“Let’s see…” Connie flipped to the bookmarked page, looking down at the map. “Where would Ruby have gone?”

“Maybe the Red Cave?” Amethyst suggested, looking over her shoulder. “I don’t think she’d go anywhere particularly cold…”

“Rubies are soldiers, right?” Connie asked, remembering something Steven told her. “Maybe she’d go to one of the battlefields.”

“Or,” Lapis said from behind them, causing them to jump, “We could ask the gem with future vision.”

“Um…” Connie stuttered. “She seems a little upset with us right now.”

“I’m upset with you all the time,” Lapis shrugged, “And I helped.”

“Yeah, but that’s because you want to find Steven.” Connie explained, “And Sapphire doesn’t remember anyone we want her to find.”

“What if we promise her passage to Homeworld?” Peridot asked, considering their options. 

“What?” Amethyst shot Peridot such a glare that the green gem almost toppled over. 

“W-we wouldn’t  _ actually  _ send her back.” Peridot explained hastily. “But she’d think we would until she regains her memory and wants to stay.”

“We can’t promise her something we can’t give her.” Amethyst shook her head, glancing at Sapphire, who was deep in thought. “And I think she suspects we can’t give it to her anyway.”

“Still, it doesn’t hurt to ask.” Connie suggested. 

“It might if she sees something she doesn’t like.” Amethyst crossed her arms. 

“Well, it’s that or go searching through every vaguely Gem-Associated Location in hopes of finding one Ruby soldier.” Lapis stated. 

Connie sighed. “I’ll talk to her.”

“I can.” Lapis offered. “I’m a member of Blue Diamond’s court, she might talk to me.”

Connie hesitated. “You won’t, like, try to get her to band with you in order to kill us, right?”

Lapis snorted. “What, and lose my best chance of finding both my memories and my Steven? I just need to get her to find her Ruby.”

“Be our guest.” Amethyst sighed, gesturing towards Sapphire. 

Lapis walked up to Sapphire, waving. “Hey, blue. What are yo-”

“I’m already trying to find the Ruby.” Sapphire said. 

Lapis paused. “What?”

Sapphire sighed. “You seem to think this ‘Ruby’ is important to me. Somehow, she’s evading my future vision and it is… frustrating.” As she spoke, ice started to spread on the grass around her, a bit trailing onto Connie’s sleeping bag. 

“Isn’t that kinda what that Ruby does?” Lapis asked. “I thought that’s why you stayed with her.”

“I did what now?” Sapphire questioned. 

Lapis considered. “You and the Ruby stayed together. Because she changed fate.”

“No one can change fate.” Sapphire said. “It is a one-way street.”

“Yeah, well, Ruby’s your crossroad.” Lapis said, staring ahead. 

Sapphire groaned. “If you’re not going to be helpful-”

“I would rather not be helpful, actually.”

“Alright. Goodbye.”

Lapis shrugged and walked back to the others. “Well?”

“Okay,” Connie said, glancing at Sapphire, “We heard most of that.”

“Do you remember much of Ruby and Sapphire?” Amethyst asked, looking a little wary. 

Lapis thought. “I was there when the Fusion happened, and Sapphire ran away with Ruby. I heard stories about them in battle, too. And…” she paused, clenching her hands, as she tried to piece together what was coming to her head. “... there were other Rubies? No, no, that can’t be right.”

“Other Rubies?” Connie asked, confused, but Peridot and Amethyst looked excited. 

“Playing baseball?” Peridot asked, suddenly interested. 

“Do you remember the baseball game?” Amethyst asked. 

Lapis considered, before shaking her head. “There were other Rubies… and I… I was wearing a hat? Why was I…”

“Lapis!” Peridot cheered so loud that Sapphire groaned and covered her ears. “Lapis, you’re remembering! Yes, yes, yes, the Great and Intelligent Peridot was right! We  _ can  _ bring your memories back!”

She jumped forwards and hugged Lapis, though she could only reach around the legs. Lapis froze, staring down at the green gem, before putting a hand on her hair. “Um, cool?”

“That’s so awesome!” Connie cheered. “Maybe if we can get Sapphire to-”

“Remember?” They jumped as Sapphire floated up behind them. “I have remembered nothing since before I arrived in the cave. However, I believe I have found this Ruby you seem to think is important.”

“Where is she?” Connie asked, excited. 

“It’s hard to say.” Sapphire sighed. “She’s very hard to track, somehow. But wherever she is, or is going to be, there are a lot of weapons.”

“A lot of weapons?” Amethyst asked. “Should we go back the Strawberry Battlefield?”

“That seems logical.” Peridot said, after letting go of Lapis, still very happy. 

“What about the Shadow?” Connie asked. 

Amethyst and Peridot then looked at each other, realizing that they’d forgotten in the excitement of finding Sapphire. “Oh, yeah.” Amethyst said. 

“Well… she followed us here.” Peridot shrugged. “Maybe she’ll follow us…”

“Wait. Has this Shadow been following you for some time?” Sapphire asked. 

They perked up, looking to the floating gem. “Yeah!” Amethyst said. “Do you-”

“She’s not important.” Sapphire dismissed, barely moving. “But if we go now, we may be able to locate this Ruby.”

As she floated away, she then turned and said, “The sooner I get you what you want, the sooner I can return to my Diamond.”


End file.
